Willow assembly election settled

PALMER — Randall Kowalke took the oath of office to join the Mat-Su Borough Assembly Tuesday evening, exactly three weeks after the last votes were cast in local elections.

Borough assembly members — under the first meeting chaired by mayor Vern Halter — unanimously certified the election after approving a report and rejecting a contest levied by former assembly member Doyle Holmes.

Three hours of investigation and 18 pages of investigative findings with seven attached exhibits yielded no changes to the election results, which showed Kowalke squeaking out a 33-vote victory over Holmes.

Kowalke’s win took on a dramatic come-from-behind flavor on election night as subsequent vote tallies posted online revealed close and closer margins in the tightly contested race. Initial totals showed Holmes up by more than 130 votes, then the results from a malfunctioned Talkeetna vote machine narrowed that gap to 52 votes by midnight election night. Absentee and questioned ballots counted six days after election night pushed Kowalke over the top.

Holmes said a roughly two- or three-hour window when the ballots were in possession of two elections officials created the perception of an opportunity for the ballots to be replaced, something he admitted under questioning by the borough attorney during an investigative hearing Tuesday night.

In his investigation, Spiropoulos said Alaska Supreme Court precedent was clear: the possibility of a perception without concrete proof was not enough to disqualify any ballots, particularly if the misconduct is alleged to have taken place after the votes are already cast. Spiropoulos also noted that during past elections, borough officials had sometimes used a sole courier to transport ballots.

And while Spiropoulos said at least one part of the procedures followed deviated from standard practice (clerk Lonnie McKechnie did not issue an oath of office to Sonya Dukes and Jamie Newman, and thus did not create a three-person receiving team to collect the ballots), that change was not enough to affect the votes — particularly when it was undertaken hours after the last ballot slid through an emergency slot in the Talkeetna Public Library, Spiropoulos said.

“That’s raising form over substance, and again, if you raise form over substance, you throw voters’ votes out, and that’s a disfavored construction of this law,” he said.

Kowalke was mobbed by supporters after he took the oath and hugged McKechnie. His first meeting as an assemblyman for District 7 will take place at least one week after the vote.

Offered the chance to speak about the election, Kowalke said he regretted the entire affair had ever happened.

“I feel terrible that the hardworking clerks from Houston, from the Mat-Su Borough, had their integrity impugned,” he said. “A free society, I think, allows for the opportunity for individuals to take advantage of those situations. I think that’s clearly what happened here. I feel terrible for what’s happened to folks who I really think were victims of a really unfortunate set of circumstances.”

Holmes has 10 days to challenge the certification in the Palmer courts.

Contact Reporter Brian O’Connor at 352-2270, brian.oconnor@frontiersman.com, or on Twitter @reporterbriano.