Two seats on the Haines Borough Assembly and three on the school board are up for grabs in the Oct. 5 municipal election. The candidate filing period for local office opened Monday and closes 5 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 24.

Candidate packets are available on the borough’s website and at the borough administration building on Third Avenue. Eligible candidates must have resided in the borough for a year continuously previous to Oct. 5. To cast ballots in the election, residents must be registered to vote for 30 days before election day.

Three-year seats open on the assembly include ones held by incumbents Steve Vick and Norm Smith. Innkeeper Smith said he hadn’t made up his mind on whether to seek another term. Vick, a swim coach, was at a remote camp near Angoon this week and couldn’t be reached by phone.

Linda Geise has filed for Vick’s seat. She’s a lifelong Alaskan and 21-year Haines resident who works as a Red Cross volunteer in warehousing and material supply services during winter months and on road projects during summer. She said she filed for the seat because there’s a need for a strong, conservative voice on the assembly.

“I believe we can go back to having a lot less restrictions and still protect people,” Geise said this week. Although her work takes her out of town, she can turn down calls from the Red Cross. “I won’t be leaving home for the next three years.”

school board member Anne Marie Palmieri was appointed by the board in December to fill a seat vacated when former board member Daymond Hoffman was elected to the assembly last fall. The seat’s term expires in October 2011.

Palmieri said a new strategic plan, a curriculum planning initiative and the arrival of several new teachers makes serving on the board exciting. She also wants to ensure that higher-achieving students are challenged.

“If you have 20 different kids at 20 different levels, what tools can we give teachers so they can be successful with every student? It’s hard,” she said.

Sarah Swinton is seeking her fourth board term. The seat she is seeking is for three years.

Swinton cites four children in the school for staying with the job, as well the opportunity to tackle education issues after several years of school construction. “We’re at a place now where we’re dealing with more education and making sure our kids are getting the best they can get.”

Brenda Jones will seek election to a seat with a three-year term she was appointed to in December when former board member Greg Stuckey moved. She said she wants to make sure Haines students can meet qualification levels for Gov. Sean Parnell’s new merit scholarship program.

Jones also wants to get more community involvement in the school. The curriculum planning effort will help students at all levels, she said. “I enjoy it. I want to be part of the process to help kids.”

Confusion over what absentee ballots should be counted in last year’s municipal election resulted in a citizen lawsuit that effectively overturned the results of one assembly race. The final margin was three votes.

The assembly is working on changes to local election law on counting absentee and write-in ballots, but those changes won’t be in time for the election. By a recent 4-2 vote, the assembly directed the borough clerk and manager to draft ordinance language that would reflect state law on the counting of ballots.

The state’s law is more permissive than the borough assembly’s previous interpretation of applicable rules pertaining to counting ballots.

Members Jerry Lapp and Scott Rossman voted in opposition. Smith, Vick, Hoffman and Joanne Waterman voted in favor.

Applications to vote absentee-by mail can be made through Sept. 24. Applications to vote absentee-by-fax are due Oct. 4. Residents can vote absentee-in-person between Sept. 20 and Oct. 4.

For more information, see the borough’s website at http://www.hainesborough.us or phone 766-2231, extension 31 or 60.