Final results in the Homer Municipal Election will have to wait until Monday to be certified. An unusually large number of absentee ballots were cast during the election and will have to be counted by the canvass board. Due to typos on the city's preliminary unofficial certificate of election, KBBI incorrectly reported previously that absentee ballots were included in the official total.
There were 799 absentee ballots in-hand at city hall after election night, but they were not counted. The interval until the canvass board meets on Monday is to allow absentee ballots to arrive at Homer City Hall -- they needed to be postmarked by Tuesday at the latest.
Out of the 1,038 ballots cast in person, preliminary unofficial results released by the city clerk’s office show first-term incumbent Mayor Ken Castner with a 197-vote lead over challenger Councilmember Donna Aderhold.
Castner gathered a total of 607 votes for 59 percent of ballots cast on election day. He leads in both Homer precincts, with 329 votes in Precinct 1 and 278 votes in Precinct 2.
Aderhold received 410 votes, for 39.8-percent. She received 214 votes in Precinct 1 and 196 in Precinct 2. There were 11 write-in votes.
The results were closer in the city council race, where two men challenged incumbent Councilmembers Rachel Lord and Caroline Venuti, who received 517 and 505 votes respectively. Challengers Raymond Walker and George Hall got 461 and 439 votes respectively. There were eight write-ins.
Percentage-wise, Lord received 26.7-percent of the vote, while Venuti received 26.1-percent. Walker tallied 23.8 percent and Hall 22.7.
The unofficial results include 1,038 in-person ballots cast. The absentee, questioned, and special needs ballots will be counted on Monday (Oct. 12) by the City of Homer Canvass Board, according to the city clerk’s office.
