The Anchorage Assembly got an update on how the review of ballots from last week’s election is going at last night’s regular Assembly meeting. KSKA’s Daysha Eaton has more.
They’re still reviewing ballots from last week’s election at City Hall. Anchorage Clerk Barbara Jones briefed the Assembly on the work of the election commission and the clerk’s office since last Tuesday’s municipal election. Jones said officials have been reviewing absentee and questioned ballots and they’re preparing for the public canvas on Thursday.
“There’s approximately 50 votes that are in the process of being reviewed to be rejected. The public session of canvas will be held on Thursday, April 11th from six until seven, or until completed in the assembly conference room 155 at City Hall.”
The total number of questioned ballots cast on election at precincts on election day is just over 1-thousand. There were 48-hundred in-person and by-mail absentee ballots issued throughout the city. People whose ballots are being questioned are being notified so that they may appear at the canvas to defend their votes. Jones says, after the public session of canvas is finished on Friday, officials will run the remaining question and absentee ballots through an AccuVote machine for a final count. Saturday, the hand-count of the close race in the West Anchorage Assembly District begins. Just 93 votes separate Assembly Chair Ernie Hall and Write-in Candidate Nick Moe in the race. The hand count begins at at 8:30 am at City Hall and runs until 5pm. It is open to the public.
Daysha Eaton is a contributor with the Alaska Public Radio Network.
Daysha Eaton holds a B.A. from Evergreen State College, and a M.A. from the University of Southern California. Daysha got her start in radio at Seattle public radio stations, KPLU and KUOW. Before coming to KBBI, she was the News Director at KYUK in Bethel. She has also worked as the Southcentral Reporter for KSKA in Anchorage.
Daysha's work has appeared on NPR's "Morning Edition" and "All Things Considered", PRI's "The World" and "National Native News". She's happy to take assignments, and to get news tips, which are best sent via email.
Daysha became a journalist because she believes in the power of storytelling. Stories connect us and they help us make sense of our world. They shed light on injustice and they comfort us in troubled times. She got into public broadcasting because it seems to fulfill the intention of the 4th Estate and to most effectively apply the freedom of the press granted to us through the Constitution. She feels that public radio has a special way of moving people emotionally through sound, taking them to remote places, introducing them to people they would not otherwise meet and compelling them to think about issues they might ordinarily overlook.
