Second seat still up in air

MAT-SU -- Incumbent Mat-Su Borough Assembly member Jody Simpson will retain her seat on the borough's seven-member legislative body as a result of Tuesday's election, but the outcome in the second assembly race is a little less clear.

Four candidates vied for the Assembly District Four seat. Of the four, the race has been narrowed to two candidates -- Pat Marley and Mary Kvalheim. Their race, as of Tuesday night, was separated by only 12 votes. Candidates Dan O'Barr received 109 votes as of Tuesday night and Scott Lapiene received 96. Across the borough, nearly 600 absentee ballots and nearly 200 questioned ballots have not yet been counted, a task the borough's canvassing board began Wednesday. In the District Four race, about 250 questioned and absentee ballots were outstanding, Tuesday's results were still very much unofficial.

The Assembly District 5 race is apparently sewn up according to Tuesday night's tallies. Assembly incumbent Jody Simpson will keep her seat for another three-year term, after taking home 522 votes in the race. Her opponent, Barbara "Tamie" Miller received 264 votes.

Borough clerk Sandra Dillon said the canvassing board should wrap up their count of the absentee, questioned and personal representative ballots by Tuesday. A meeting to certify the election is scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday, Dillon said.

The District Four race is certainly not the first close race in recent history. During last year's election Palmer-area assembly member Sara Jansen faced off against opponent Kevin Sorensen. By the end of election night, Sorensen had the lead by 23 votes. After the questioned and absentee ballots had been tallied, that margin slipped to just six and, after ballots were recounted, Jansen took the win with just eight votes.

The Jansen-Sorensen race is similar to the Kvalheim-Marley race in more ways than just the numbers involved. Last year, sales tax and zoning were the two hot-button issues separating candidates. Zoning, or land use, remained a key topic in this year's race -- and it's one of the issues that most separates Kvalheim and Marley.

Marley agreed that the two races were similar and said he's a good friend of Sorensen's, sharing many of the same viewpoints. He said whoever gets the seat should keep in mind that Valley residents are very closely split over how area lawmakers should proceed.

"It's a voter's choice, and obviously it's close," Marley said. "Generally, I don't want to make more regulations unless I feel a firm majority of the population wants more regulations, and I don't think that's the case."

Marley said it was too early to claim victory in the race, and is taking a wait-and-see approach

Kvalheim, too, said it was too early to concede the race. But she said the race was a valuable experience.

"I just had the greatest experience of my life," Kvalheim said. "I had a wonderful time, I learned a lot about this community."

On the topic of a split community, Kvalheim said the voice of the voters is much different than the voice of borough residents -- fewer than 7,000 of the nearly 44,000 registered voters in the area showed up at the polls. Instead, Kvalheim theorized, the voices heard are the voices of those who take the time to become involved -- not necessarily the majority.

"Our initial polling in this area showed that people here are very concerned about traffic congestion and growth," Kvalheim said. "Many people don't take the time to come to the borough assembly or planning commission meetings … there are many people who either believe the protections are in place through the borough or their covenants."

From an overall perspective, election turnout was down. Five percent fewer voters showed up at the polls this year than last year. Dillon said while it's difficult to point to any one reason for a lower voter turnout, a few reasons could have led to the fifteen-percent showing. The relentless rain, Dillon said, may have played a part, but likely wasn't the only factor.

"It's always confusing for the general populous when you have a state election year," Dillon said. "The municipalities kind of get lost."

Confusion related to redistricting could have also played a part, Dillon said, but she was happy to report that election officials were able to manage multiple ballots within a precinct, new voters and other challenges stemming from the redrawn precinct lines with few problems.

"Our process worked," Dillon said. "Our checks and

balances worked and I was

really pleased with how it came out."