Unofficial election night and early voting ballots ticked in Tuesday night just after 8:15 p.m, leaving some races too close to call.
According to Borough Clerk's office updates, 975 absentee ballots and 546 question ballots remain uncounted.
Borough Clerk April Trickey and her team will start processing questioned ballots today, which include checking to see whether a voter is qualified to vote in the municipal election and that they didn’t vote any other way.
Absentee ballots include those done in person, by mail or electronically. Absentee by-mail ballots postmarked by Oct. 1 have seven days to arrive at the clerk’s office.
For Fairbanks Borough Mayor, the results were too narrow with Grier Hopkins leading by 43 votes over John Coghill Jr. and Robert Shields trailing in a distant third. Hopkins had 8,766 votes to Coghill’s 8,723 votes. Shields earned 644 votes.
Hopkins had 48.17% while Coghill had 47.93% of the vote. Hopkins told the News-Miner he expected a close race regardless of the results.
“It was a good, clean campaign and it appears both of us had good messages,” Hopkins said. “I’m honored to have that much support from the entire community and to have that many votes. I’m excited about the votes in the coming days.”
Coghill shared similar views.
“I kind of knew it was going to be close though I was hoping I would be on the top end of close,” Coghill said. “We both ran a respectful race, but of course one is more conservative and one is more liberal.”
Coghill noted the split could come down to a handful of votes.
Assembly Seats
For Assembly Seat A, incumbent David Guttenberg led by 1,388 votes over Miguel Ramirez. Guttenberg earned 9,529 votes, while Ramirez received 8,141 votes.
“The voters vote, and that’s where I stand,” Guttenberg said Tuesday. “You work at it, make your case, and you never know where the interest is going to be and leave it up to voters.”
Guttenberg noted the budget will the top priority for the next Assembly.
“The tough thing is going to be the budget. When they cut the tax cap a couple of years ago, it put budgeting under the tax cap in a tough spot,” Guttenberg said. “We’ve got a new mayor. One way or another, he and the Assembly will have to make tough choices.”
Ramirez acknowledged a likely defeat.
“I want to congratulate David, he ran a clean campaign. The voters made their choice and that’s how democracy works,” he said.
He added that even with the number of absentee ballots left uncounted, “mathematically I may still be short.”
Ramirez said he was thankful for those who supported and voted for him and for media outlets and organizations that hosted local candidate forums.
“I will continue to serve the community as best I can, but I’m not going anywhere and there are more seats up next year I may run for,” Ramirez said.
Assembly Seat F was close as Assemblymember Tammie Wilson led by 301 votes to newcomer Garrett Armstrong. Wilson had 9,117 votes (50.72%) to Armstrong’s 8,816 votes (49.06%).
Wilson and Armstrong both said the results remained too close to determine a clear victor until after all ballots were counted.
“We will wait until the clerk counts those final ballots,” Wilson said Tuesday night. “We worked really hard, but at the end of the day it’s up to the voters to decide.”
“I will wait to see the final results but I will trust the final process,” Armstrong said in a brief comment Tuesday night.
In the Assembly Seat G race, incumbent Kristan Kelly led by 259 votes, earning 8,923 votes (50.56%) to former Assemblymember Jimi Cash’s 8,664 votes (49.1%).
Cash could not be reached for comment on Tuesday night.
Kelly called the race between her and Cash too close.
“Right now, it’s looking good and it looks like people have chosen to reelect a centrist government, focusing on education and trails and looking toward the future,” Kelly said. “I want to congratulate Jimi on a good race, and it could go either way. He ran a good race as well.”
Tax cap, IGU
Voters overwhelmingly reaffirmed FNSB Proposition 1 by just over 66%, keeping the tax cap in place for another two years. Prop 1 received 11,858 "yes" votes and 6,062 "no" votes."
The two candidates in the uncontested Interior Gas Utility Board of Directors at-large seats will automatically be seated. Jack Wilbur Jr. ran uncontested for re-election on Seat A, while Sherri Wall will take Seat B.
Absentee and questioned ballots will be counted at 2 p.m. Oct. 8 at the Juanita Helms Administration Building, 907 Terminal St.
All results are unofficial until the Assembly certifies them. To view results and check for updates, visit fnsb.gov/elections.
Editorial note: This version has been updated to reflect the number of outstanding uncounted ballots.