A count of 30 more Haines municipal election ballots did not change the results of last week’s vote.
The ballots were counted by the Haines Borough Assembly, acting as the Canvass Board.
They included absentee, early voting, questioned and special needs ballots the borough clerk deemed to meet voting requirements.
The results show Heather Lende and Tom Morphet as the top vote-getters for two open assembly seats. Lende received 501 votes, Morphet garnered 436.
The other four candidates each received a few more votes in their favor. Diana Lapham came in third with 370 votes. Ryan Cook received 305, Judy Erekson 241 and Leonard Dubber 150.
There were zero write-in votes for assembly.
In the uncontested school board election, there were 794 votes cast for Sarah Swinton and 789 for Lisa Schwartz. There were 30 write-in votes.
The results are set to be certified at the next assembly meeting on Oct. 27. After certification, newly-elected assembly members Lende and Morphet will take their seats.
Good job everyone who ran. Many of the people who do not live here year round vote absentee ballot and it does not appear those changed the outcome of the election. If the election was held in January would the results have been different? Based on the margins probably not. But there is a perception people who live in Haines part time have less awareness of what impacts people who live in Haines year round – and there may be some merit to that. Is this really a problem though for this specific election as the folks who did win live in Haines year round most likely voted in by people who live in Haines year round . People are tired of divisive politics and being made wrong – the two winners are more on the building bridges than burning bridges side of things which is more likely why they won rather than currying favor with the part time population.
We should see how many of those voters live here year around!!!