Sign wavers supporting Brent Johnson blasted music from the Broadway musical “Hamilton” as cars drove by and honked in downtown Homer this morning. Johnson is a nonpartisan candidate running for the Alaska House seat that includes most of the southern Kenai Peninsula.
Johnson also waved signs himself. He started the day on the central Peninsula in Kasilof and made his way to Ninilchik. He planned to end his day down in Homer.
“It's a good feeling to have to be doing this race with people. Nobody wants to do something by yourself," he said, "and when you get elected, you do things with people. You don't, there's no one vote that gets anything done. It's always some majority.”
Back in Homer, one of Johnson’s opponent waved signs with her supporters at WKFL Park. Republican Rep. Sarah Vance said she feels good about the election.
"I've had a peace about this election, and we've had an excellent early vote and absentee turnout, and I look forward to seeing the results tonight,” she said.
Landa Baily is one of the sign wavers in Homer. She said in addition to supporting Johnson, she wants to keep ranked choice voting and open primaries.
“I just felt that it's always important for people down on the sidewalks and in our homes to decide who's going to represent us and not someone in a conference room somewhere," Baily said, "so the ranked choice voting was important to me, I hope it, I hope the no prevails.”
Throughout the day, a steady stream of voters trickled through polling places, but many have voted early already, according to election chair Karen Newell.
“We had record numbers. Just very, very busy every day. Yesterday was again a record day, and today, we've been very steady,” Newell said
Voters across the southern peninsula paid particular attention to the presidential election, like Homer resident James Gricius.
“I have two daughters, and it's really important to me that their rights are protected," he said, "I also think a convicted felon is not the best person to put into the White House, not to mention all of the other issues Trump has. I also think that Kamala is just going to move people forward.”
Other people like Anchor Point resident Cheryl Shafer voted for Donald Trump.
“I like his policies. I don't like where the our United States is going right now. I don't believe in a lot of the policies they have. And I want to get back to good family values,” she said.
She’s also impressed by the people turning out to vote in the small town north of Homer.
“I go by this every day, and so seeing all the cars has been packed since eight o'clock this morning, so I'm hoping that that's nationwide, not just Anchor Point,” Shafer said.
Not everyone who goes to the polls vote. In Ninilchik, Elise Spofford brought her teenage 13-year-old daughter with her to the polls.
“I remember just even when she was little, we'd go into the ballot box together, and today we kind of talked ourselves through, you know, just well, ‘who's this candidate and what are they running for?’ And I just think it's really important to involve these our families in these conversations, and especially our children, which they're our future,” Spofford said.
Early results will be posted on KBBI.org shortly after polls close.
