Whittier weighs ending seat-by-seat council races and charging to challenge results

Whittier candidates would no longer need voter signatures to get on the ballot, and voters would no longer pick City Council members seat by seat, under a draft rewrite of the city's election code the council discusses Monday.

The draft would also charge $1,000 to contest an election and $500 to ask for a recount, and write voter ID rules into city code.

Nothing has been introduced. Monday's meeting is a work session, and the city's memo says another memo will come before the council considers the ordinance and holds a public hearing.

Whittier elects its seven council members at large, but each candidate runs for one lettered seat, A through G. The draft would end the lettered seats, and the ballot would tell voters to "vote for not more than" the number of open seats.

Acting City Clerk Shelby Carlson and City Attorney Holly Wells argue in a joint memo that designated seats do "not make sense in Whittier" because residents live close together and are all represented at large. Whittier has about 270 residents, most of whom live in one 14-story building, Begich Towers.

The draft adds that some seats draw more than one candidate and others none. Nobody filed for Seat E before the Oct. 6 election. David Pinquoch won it as a write-in.

Candidates now file a petition signed by 10 registered voters. The draft would replace that with a sworn declaration. One section makes it due 45 calendar days before a regular election and another says 45 business days.

Today, a candidate who is disqualified can ask for a hearing before an independent officer the council appoints. The draft would make the clerk's decision final, though the clerk could name a hearing officer.

Voters would show ID, anything from a driver's license to a utility bill, or cast a ballot the election board reviews. The memo says the rules mirror requirements the Legislature recently adopted but doesn't name the law. The current code already incorporates state election law.

Contesting an election now carries no stated fee, and voters who get a recount are each liable for its cost. Under the draft, the $1,000 contest fee would be refunded if the challenger wins. The $500 recount fee, paid by a losing candidate or 10 voters, would be refunded if the recount changes the result or shifts the vote by 4% or more. Otherwise it would go to the city's general fund. Races decided by less than 1% would get a recount automatically. The memo says the fees are meant to limit frivolous contests and recounts.

The draft would also require a runoff if no candidate gets more than 40% of the votes cast divided by the number of open seats. The memo calls that "a provision that should have been in the Code but is currently missing." State law sets the same threshold unless a city's ordinance says otherwise. The draft doesn't make clear how a runoff would work with several seats open.

Polls would open at 8 am instead of 7 am and still close at 8 pm. Election notices would move from the newspaper to the city website plus three posted notices. A new recall section would follow state law, which already lets voters recall a city official after the first 120 days of a term.

The draft also deletes the schedule that staggers council terms and doesn't replace it. The draft posted for Monday is dated July and may change. Its listed effective date, Nov. 1, has already passed.