Assembly candidate Jay Burnham. (Emily Files)
The final votes in Skagway’s municipal election were tallied and certified Thursday. The Canvass board counted about 140 absentee ballots and added them to the 416 Skagway residents cast in-person earlier this week.
The final count did not alter the fate of the tidelands lease ordinance. It was rejected by a vote of 383 to 167.
The closest race was between Jay Burnham and write-in candidate David Brena for a borough assembly seat. Burnham won, with 229 votes.
“I put my name in the last day because no one seemed to want to run for assembly and I have wanted to be on the assembly for many different reasons,” Burnham said on election night. “I wanted to help out in the community making decisions that people in the community wanted.”
Assembly candidate David Brena. (Emily Files)
Write-in candidate Brena received 187 votes. He spoke with KHNS earlier this week before election results were finalized. Brena said he ran for assembly because people asked him to, given his experience with economic analysis and planning.
“The projected lease with White Pass has to be analyzed against the potential revenue that the city could make if it operated its own dock,” Brena said. “I think that no one at the assembly knows the answer to that. I think that they have not done their due diligence.”
The other borough assembly seat goes to Steve Burnham Jr., who won re-election with 333 votes. Another write-in assembly candidate, Mavis Irene Henricksen, totaled 95 votes.
Mark Schaefer was re-elected mayor with 312 votes. Roger Griffin, his challenger, garnered a total of 213 votes.
School board candidate John Hischer received 474 votes in an uncontested race.
Voter turnout was 54 percent, which is the highest rate since 2005. In the last ten years, turnout has fluctuated between 15 percent and 40 percent. The last time it topped 50 percent was in 2007.
