Seward moves city elections to November to share ballot day with borough and state

Seward will elect its city officials in November instead of October starting in 2027, after the City Council voted 7-0 Monday to put city races on the same ballot day as Kenai Peninsula Borough and state elections.

Council members and the city clerk said they expect more people to vote in November. When Seward voted on its own this month, 388 of the city's 1,774 registered voters cast ballots. The first day of in-person early voting at City Hall for next week's state election drew 91 ballots, 53 from Seward and Lowell Point and 38 from Bear Creek, City Clerk Kris Peck wrote in a report to the council. The city's October election drew 10 on its first day and 54 over the whole early voting period, though only voters inside city limits could cast those ballots.

Peck, who proposed the change, said he had been heavily weighing the pros and cons, but "careful analysis kind of went out the window" once those early numbers came in. Putting city races on the November ballot, he said, "would be like a local band going on tour with Metallica."

Council Member Michael Calhoon said city turnout runs 19% to 21%, "22 once in a while," which he said isn't optimal for a town with a lot of important things to decide. Council Member Lori Draper said turnout "trumps all of the other issues in my mind." Of the people she asked around town, she said, one told her not to do it and "pretty much everybody else" wanted one election day.

Sharing election workers, equipment and ballot printing with the borough would also cut the city's cost from about $10,000 to about $5,000, Peck said.

Peck said his biggest concern is paperwork. In a state election year, in-person absentee voters could fill out three envelopes, and Election Day voters could carry three ballots into the booth: city, borough and state. The state and borough scanners reject each other's ballots, so they can't get mixed up, he said. Mayor Sue McClure said three ballots could confuse some voters, but greater turnout could make up for it.

The city charter requires a year's notice to change the election date. Peck wrote that waiting until after next week's election to decide would have meant another October city election in 2027. Members were told before the vote that the city could switch back later with the same notice. No one testified at the hearing.