(Sage Smiley / KSTK)
Wrangell’s final election results show incumbent Vice-Mayor Patty Gilbert has been elected as mayor, beating out opponent Terry Courson by 87 votes. And a bond proposal for an $8.5 million renovation of the community’s Public Safety Building has failed, after receiving 324 votes in opposition and 259 for the measure.
The mayoral race and outcome of Proposition 2 were the two items still up in the air after in-person voting closed Tuesday evening (October 4).
Wrangell’s canvass board processed the remaining 104 ballots cast in this year’s municipal election in the borough assembly chambers Thursday afternoon (October 6). That included 88 early ballots, 15 by-mail ballots, and 1 special needs ballot. There were no questioned ballots for this election.
Wrangell’s assembly approved and certified the election results later the same evening (October 6), making the results official.
Final election results didn’t result in any major shifts in the preliminary outcomes.
While Prop. 2 failed to pass muster with voters, the other two ballot measures passed. Voters approved a $3.5 million bond for Wrangell’s Public Schools (Prop. 1) and gave permission for the City and Borough of Wrangell to sell or lease the old mill property at 6-Mile Zimovia Highway (Prop 3).
Incumbent assembly member Dave Powell and Chamber of Commerce Director Brittani Robbins will both gain three-year terms on Wrangell’s borough assembly. Their opponent, WCA CARES Act Coordinator Alex Angerman, trailed by more than 150 votes.
All three candidates for school board ran unopposed. Current board president David Wilson and IGA office worker Elizabeth Rountree have both been elected for three-year terms to the school board. Tribal administrator Esther Ashton has been elected to a one-year term on the board.
Teacher Winston Davies has been elected to his first term on the port commission, and incumbent commissioner John Yeager will serve another three-year term as well. Yeager received the most votes out of any municipal candidate: 517.
Turnout in this municipal election was 31% – 601 ballots – of the borough’s 1,979 registered voters, according to Wrangell’s borough clerk. That’s about 6% higher than turnout for last year’s municipal election, and 8% higher than 2020 participation.
There was also about a 14% increase in early and mail-in voters for this year’s municipal election compared to last year.
The candidate-elects will be officially considered elected after they take an oath of office, which can be done any time now that the borough assembly has certified the election. Terms of office begin at the next meeting: Monday for the school board and port commission, Tuesday for the Borough Assembly.
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