Filing closes at 3 p.m. Monday with no publicly known candidate for 12 Kodiak Island Borough seats

Filing for the 16 Kodiak Island Borough seats on the Oct. 6 ballot closes at 3 p.m. Monday, and no candidate has publicly surfaced for any of the 12 that are not assembly seats.

The clerk's Notice of Offices To Be Filled lists three assembly seats at three-year terms and one at a one-year term, two school board seats, and 10 seats across five service area boards: one on Bay View Road, two on Fire Protection Area No. 1, one on Monashka Bay Road, three on Service Area No. 1 and three on Womens Bay. There is no mayoral seat this year. Filing normally closes Aug. 15, but because that date fell on a Saturday, borough code moved the deadline to 3 p.m. Monday.

The Alaska Public Offices Commission's 2026 municipal candidate list shows two filers, both for assembly: Shawn Brekke, filed Aug. 2, and Kaleb Callahan, Aug. 16. A third prospective candidate, Caroline Roberts, surfaced in this outlet's own reporting. Roberts finished last among five candidates for two assembly seats in 2025 and was appointed that October to the seat Ryan Sharratt vacated, on a one-year term that expires this fall. All three are letters of intent, which are state filings and not the declaration of candidacy filed with the borough clerk. That declaration, signed by 10 qualified voters, is what puts a name on the ballot, and the clerk does not publish the list before the deadline closes.

The one-year assembly seat on this year's ballot is the remainder of Dave Johnson's term. Johnson resigned in June, and on July 16 the assembly voted 4-1 to appoint Mark Anthony Vizcocho, president of the Filipino-American Association of Kodiak, to hold the seat until October.

Assembly and school board candidates must have lived in the borough for a year; service area candidates need 30 days of residency in their service area. Candidates for borough office and declared write-in candidates must also file a state financial disclosure with the clerk. Service area board candidates are exempt from that requirement.

Those boards manage real money. Fiscal year 2026 appropriations run $849,500 for Fire Protection Area No. 1, $577,000 for Service Area No. 1, $372,000 for Womens Bay Road Service, $75,000 for Monashka Bay and $18,500 for Bay View Road.

Thin fields are not new. Four of the five service area boards drew fewer candidates than seats at the Oct. 7, 2025 election. Monashka Bay had two three-year terms and recorded zero candidates and no write-ins, repeating its 2024 result, when the assembly filled the seats by appointment. Bay View Road filled one of two seats with 25 votes, Womens Bay one of two with 159, and Service Area No. 1 one of two with 569. Only Fire Protection Area No. 1, with one seat and one candidate, matched candidates to openings.

Tom Lance, reporting for the Monashka Bay Road Service Area at the Borough Assembly's March 6, 2025 meeting, said the shortage is longstanding. "Few people want to participate in the road service area. They appreciate being able to drive on roads that have no potholes," Lance said.

Write-in candidacy opens Monday. Write-in declarations are due at the Clerk's Office by 3 p.m. Sept. 29, the last route onto the ballot for any of the 12 non-assembly seats. Declarations go to the Borough Clerk's Office at 710 Mill Bay Road, Room 234, reachable at 907-486-9310 or [email protected].

This account is drawn from the commission's candidate list, the clerk's notice and borough election records, and contains no response from the clerk's office.