With all the absentee and question ballots now tabulated, some of the more closely contested races from this years elections appear to have been decided, and there are some notable changes.
In the race for Kenai City Council, where two seats were up for grabs, incumbent Henry Knackstedt and challenger Phil Daniel received the two highest vote counts. Knackstedt looked to have the biggest edge following last week’s elections, holding an election night lead of 56 votes over the next closest candidate, incumbent Teea Winger, and only absentee ballots left to be counted. Winger, however, only held a narrow, six vote lead over Daniel, and a 24 vote lead over former councilmember Glenese Pettey. But with the addition of absentee and question ballots, newcomer Phil Daniel overtook Winger by a very slim margin, finishing five votes ahead of the incumbent. Pettey picked up more votes through the added ballots, but still ended up 14 votes behind Daniel. Kenai City Council election results will be certified at the next council meeting on October 19th.
Final Results:
1) Knackstedt (427)
2) Daniel (326)
3) Winger (321)
4) Pettey (302)
The Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Board of Education offered the most upsets of any elections this year, with two sitting board members — including the board president — losing their seat to challengers. In the race for District 5 (Sterling), board member Beverly Romanin lost to Kelley Cizek, and in District 7 (Central), Diane MacRae has ousted Board President, Debbie Cary. Both Cary and Romanin trailed on election night (Cary by 17 votes; Romanin by 140), and neither were able to close the gap after absentee and question ballots were counted. In other races, Jason Tauriainen held his District 3 (Nikiski) seat, beating out challenger Lyndsey Bertoldo, and in District 4 (Soldotna) Penny Vadla ran unopposed.
Final Results:
District 3 (Nikiski):
1) Jason Tuariainen (474)
2) Lyndsey Bertoldo (350)
District 4 (Soldotna):
1) Penny Vadla (418)
District 5 (Sterling):
1) Kelley Cizek (354)
2) Beverly Romanin (196)
District 7 (Central):
1) Diane MacRae (307)
2) Debbie V. Cary (296)
Finally, there were no upsets in any of the Kenai Peninsula Borough races, although there will be two new members in the assembly, as Richard Derkevorkian (District 2 – Kenai) and Lane Chesley (District 8 – Homer) both chose not to seek reelection. The closest race was in Assembly District 3 (Nikiski), where incumbent Peter Ribbens held a slim, five vote lead on election night over challenger Adam Bertoldo. With the absentee and question ballots counted, however, Ribbens finished 27 votes ahead of Bertoldo. In other borough races, Mayor Peter Micciche ran unopposed, and in the assembly, Ryan Tunseth (Kenai) also ran unopposed, Bill Elam (Sterling) won convincingly over challenger Nissa Savage, and former assembly member Kelly Cooper regains her Homer seat, beating out Heath Smith.
Final Results:
Borough Mayor:
1) Peter Micciche (5,246)
Assembly District 2 (Kenai):
1) Ryan Tunseth (559)
Assembly District 3 (Nikiski):
1) Peter Ribbens (423)
2) Adam Bertoldo (396)
Assembly District 5 (Sterling):
1) Bill Elam (416)
2) Nissa Savage (155)
Assembly District 8 (Homer):
1) Kelley Cooper (764)
2) Heath Smith (499)
