Gabe Thomas, Ben Aultman-Moore and Jerry Lapp remain the winners of the 2022 municipal election for borough assembly after the assembly counted 24 final votes Tuesday during the election canvass.
The final 24 votes included four absentee ballots received after election day but postmarked by election day, one absentee by fax, 13 questioned ballots and six special needs ballots.
Thomas received an additional 18 votes with a total of 565. Aultman-Moore received an additional seven votes and received a total of 502 votes. Both candidates were elected to a three-year term. Lapp received an additional 15 votes for a total of 497 and was elected to a one-year term. The seat with a one-year term was left vacant after former assembly member Caitie Rothbart resigned with a year remaining in her term. The candidate with the third highest vote count was assigned the one-year seat.
The election will be certified at the next regular assembly meeting on Oct. 25 if there are not election contests or demand for a recount. After the election is certified, Thomas, Aultman-Moore and Lapp will be sworn in at the Oct. 25 meeting and will begin their terms on the assembly.
Voter turnout was reported at 42% this year but the actual turnout is more difficult to measure, according to borough clerk Alekka Fullerton. Turnout is based on the number of registered voters in the Haines Borough, which is currently at 2,414. The U.S. Census, however, counts the population of Haines at 2,071, 18% of which are under the age of 18. The borough is challenging the census count as being too low, and other factors likely contribute to the large number of registered voters in Haines.
For voting purposes, individuals are considered an Alaska resident if they reside in the state and intend to remain a resident. Many part-time residents claim Alaska residency for voting purposes but since Alaska is not their primary home, they weren’t counted in the census.
Also, Alaska’s “voter culling system” allows people to not vote and be unresponsive to correspondence from the Alaska Division of Elections about voting for eight years before they are culled from the registers.
“Eight years is a long time. So, if someone moves, they may remain on our registers for up to eight years (even if they actually vote in another state),” Fullerton wrote to the CVN. “So people might be registered to vote in two states but as long as they only vote in one of them – they are okay.”