Range of voting options better for democracy

Having poured over candidate filings, we wanted to take a minute to express our elation at the state of democracy in our Mat-Su Valley.

Not a single legislator up for re-election this fall will skate through without opposition, and very few have drawn anything like what we would call token challengers.

What is likely to make some of the local contests especially interesting is the presence of viable third-party candidates. In a state where Republicans and Democrats combined do not outnumber unaffiliated voters, the presence of nonpartisan candidates is a refreshing option for voters.

Some of the sitting legislators look to have tough fights on their hands. Here’s a look at some of the most interesting races:

• Rep. Lynn Gattis, who represents Wasilla and points east, is squaring off against soon-to-be-term-limited Wasilla Mayor Verne Rupright, who is one of the those taking the nonpartisan route.

• Rep. Eric Feige of Chickaloon is facing a primary challenge from Jim Colver, a sitting Mat-Su Borough Assemblyman with a deep history of elected service. George Rauscher, who nearly toppled Feige once before, will challenge him on this year in the Republican primary.

• House District 12 lacks an incumbent after Bill Stoltze opted for a Senate run, but two pretty well-known faces in political circles — assemblyman Ron Arvin and legislative staffer and local businesswoman Cathy Tilton — are vying to replace him.

• Rep. Stoltze has a strong challenger in his Senate run, with Palmer Mayor DeLena Johnson fighting him for the Republican nomination. The winner of the Republican primary will and longtime educator Pat Chesbro, a Democrat who challenged Stoltze for his House seat in 2006, awaiting in the general election.

A couple other races will also be interesting — Stephen Jacobson is taking another run at Big Lake Rep. Mark Neuman, and Roger Purcell — the former mayor of Houston and seemingly inescapable presence in Valley politics, despite not holding elected office for a number of years — is taking on Rep. Wes Keller, a politician who has, at times, failed to draw a challenger. It is the second shot at Keller for Purcell, who opted out of a primary battle by running as an independent this time around.

Also running as an independent is former borough assemblyman Warren Keogh, who has filed to challenge Mike Dunleavy, a first-term senator and main promoter of a controversial and unpopular measure that would have radically changed the way education is funded in Alaska.

Not to overlook the “loyal opposition,” there are also Democrats on the ballot in nearly every race. Democrats in the deeply conservative Valley can often seem like token candidates. We will not call them that.

But even if this year, like every year, they go down hard to defeat, they will do so with us cheering them on. Not because we choose sides, but because even long-shot opposition candidates help keep the dominant party honest. They serve a vital role, one we are happy to see filled this year.

While this year’s looks to be an interesting, as always, we suspect the results will be decided by around 20 percent of voters who take the time to participate.

We hope you’ll follow along this election season, get to know the issues and the candidates, and in the end we encourage all citizens of age to register and vote.

Voting is more than a right; it’s every citizens’ responsibility.