Election Day across Alaska: Where voters choose local leaders, ballot questions

Alaskans are voting in municipal and regional school-board elections across the state Tuesday, but there is no single state-run municipal ballot or candidate list. Cities and boroughs run their own elections, while the Alaska Division of Elections separately administers Regional Educational Attendance Area school-board contests.

This roundup covers 22 local governments and the state-administered regional school-board election. It is not exhaustive.

Voters should check their local clerk's office for polling hours and locations. They are not uniform statewide.

Community by community

Juneau

Juneau voters are choosing three Assembly members and two Board of Education members and deciding three tax propositions, detailed in Alaska News' Juneau guide. The election is by mail, and state polling places in Juneau are closed for the municipal election. Two vote centers, at City Hall and the Mendenhall Valley Public Library, are open 7 am to 8 pm, and drop boxes take ballots until 8 pm, according to the city's election page. Mailed ballots must be postmarked on or before Oct. 6 and received before election certification, scheduled for Oct. 20.

Fairbanks

Fairbanks city and Fairbanks North Star Borough voters are choosing local officials; the borough ballot also includes three initiatives involving a tax cap, November elections and hand-counted ballots. Alaska News' Fairbanks guide has the details.

North Slope Borough

The North Slope Borough has a mayoral contest, Assembly and School Board races, and 11 bond propositions totaling about $1.55 billion. Alaska News' North Slope guide has the details.

Sitka

Sitka voters have a three-way mayoral race, two Assembly seats, three School Board seats and a charter proposition. The proposition would remove an automatic special-election requirement for certain initiative and referendum petitions and let the Assembly decide whether a special election is in the municipality's best interest. The municipal election page has the candidate list, sample ballot and proposition documents.

Ketchikan

Ketchikan city voters are choosing three regular City Council members and one member for a one-year term. They are also deciding whether to authorize up to $25 million in Ketchikan Public Utilities revenue bonds for electric-system work. Borough voters are choosing three Assembly members and two School Board members. A separate borough proposition asks whether to adopt areawide public-library powers, which would shift library assets, operations and funding responsibility from the city to the borough if the measure passes in both required voting groupings. The city and borough maintain separate election pages.

Haines

Haines voters have contested races for mayor, Assembly, Planning Commission and School Board, plus five ballot measures involving taxes and planning. The borough election page includes the candidate and ballot information.

Petersburg

Petersburg's ballot includes Assembly, School Board and six advisory or operating boards. Voters will also decide propositions on up to $3,315,000 in electric-utility revenue bonds, on raising the maximum single transaction subject to borough sales tax from $1,200 to $5,000, and on a sales-tax exemption for borough residents age 70 and older. The borough has published its sample ballot.

Wrangell

Wrangell has contested races for two Assembly seats, School Board and a three-year Port Commission seat. Mayor Patricia Gilbert and the only candidate for a two-year Port Commission term are unopposed. The borough election page has the official election material.

Kodiak

Kodiak Island Borough voters have a seven-person race for three regular Assembly seats, a separate contest for an unexpired Assembly term, two School Board seats and several service-area seats. The borough published a voter pamphlet. Kodiak city voters are filling two three-year council seats and one one-year seat. Nick Mangini is the only printed candidate for the three-year seats, and Charles Davidson is the printed candidate for the one-year seat. A city proposition would allow the manager to live within the city or within five road miles of its boundaries.

Wasilla

Wasilla voters are choosing among Stuart R. "Stu" Graham, Alina Rubeo and David S. Wilson for mayor. If no one wins more than 40 percent of the vote, the top two advance to a runoff the city expects to hold Nov. 10. Council Seat D is contested between Ian Crafton and David Seals, while Bruce Webb is the only listed candidate for Seat C. The city election notice has voting information.

Palmer

Palmer voters are filling two three-year City Council seats, with Sherry D. Carrington and Gladys "Penny" Mosher the only candidates, and a one-year seat contested between Bruce L. Brown and Aundra O. "Omega" Jackson. No propositions are on Palmer's ballot. The city's election page has the candidate list and sample ballot.

Bethel

Six candidates appear on the ballot for four Bethel City Council seats: Alicia Miner, Greg Schiedler, Joseph Klejka, Lillian Okpaleke, Pamela Conrad and Rose "Sugar" Henderson. The city posts election notices and its sample ballot online.

Bristol Bay Borough

In the Bristol Bay Borough, Russell Phelps is the listed candidate for mayor and Mason King is the listed Assembly candidate. Breanna King, Freddie Bragg and Rebecca Hamon are running for two School Board seats. Voters also decide a referendum on whether to repeal the borough's March ordinance banning marijuana sales and marijuana businesses. The borough has published its certified-candidate notice.

Seward

Julie S. Crites, Matthew "Matt" Cope, Rhonda Hubbard, Robert "Bob" Barnwell and Victor Maddox are competing for two Seward City Council seats. The city has published its official candidate roster.

North Pole

Aubrey Barnett, Benjamin Williams Jr. and Thomas R. McGhee are running for two North Pole City Council seats. City voters also decide Proposition A, a citizens' initiative that would move city elections from October to November. The city has published its official candidate list.

Adak

Adak voters have six council seats or partial terms on the ballot. Two contests have more than one candidate: Phil Bennett and Barbara Tolliver for Council Seat 2B, and Scott Bullock and Elizabeth "Lizzi" Pryor for Seat 3B. The city's election page lists all candidates.

Nome, Unalaska and Aleutians East Borough

Nome, Unalaska and the Aleutians East Borough also hold municipal elections Tuesday, but Alaska News could not find published candidate lists for them.

Regional school boards

The Division of Elections has published ballots for 33 School Board contests in 16 Regional Educational Attendance Areas, or REAAs. These districts serve communities in Alaska's unorganized borough. The state's candidate roster lists 47 seat entries across 19 districts, with no certified candidate for 14 of them.

Where in-person polling is offered, REAA polls are open from 8 am to 8 pm. By-mail ballots must be postmarked on or before Oct. 6 and received by Oct. 16 to be eligible, according to the state election calendar. Voters should confirm the voting method and location for their community with the Division of Elections.

Not voting today

Homer, Kenai, Soldotna, the Kenai Peninsula Borough and the Matanuska-Susitna Borough hold their 2026 local elections on Nov. 3, not Oct. 6. They are not part of Tuesday's municipal-election slate.

Because Alaska's local elections are decentralized, voters in communities not listed here should confirm their ballot and polling information directly with their municipal clerk.