Unofficial results from Wrangell's 2023 Municipal Election

Voting stickers at the Nolan Center on October 3, 2023.
(Sage Smiley / KSTK)

Early results from Wrangell’s municipal election are in. And even with more than two-dozen early ballots to be counted, the outcome of the one contested race is set.

In the school board race, newcomer John DeRuyter leads incumbent school board member Esther Reese by 39 votes – DeRuyter has 115 votes, Reese trails with 76. There are not enough un-tabulated votes for Reese to overtake DeRuyter’s lead in the race.

Reese has served on Wrangell’s school board since last year. DeRuyter has been a member of the schools’ Secondary Advisory Committee since 2021 and also serves on the borough’s Economic Development Board.

The other municipal races were uncontested to begin with.

Current borough assembly member Anne Morrison will be re-elected with 159 votes. Newcomer Michael Ottesen will also gain a three-year term on the assembly, after securing 158 votes.

In the Port Commission race, incumbent Port Commissioner Gary Morrison is set to serve another three-year term, with 180 votes so far.

There were a total of 192 ballots cast in-person in the 2023 Wrangell municipal election. It’s a more than 60% decrease from last year’s municipal election turnout.

These election results are unofficial, and will be certified after the canvass board and borough assembly meet on Thursday (October 5). The canvass board will count the more than 24 early ballots beginning at 1 p.m. Thursday.

Eighteen (18) Wrangellites voted early in this year’s municipal election. And 15 voters had requested mail-in ballots by the deadline. As of Tuesday morning, six of the mail-in ballots had been received. That means the canvass board, which certifies the local election, will process at least 24 (and up to 33) ballots, between the early and mail-in ballots.

That’s a steep drop from last year, when the combined number of early, mail-in and faxed ballots was over 100.