Repeal of borough elections ordinance petition filed

After failing to block an ordinance in the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly that would provide for an expanded number of options for residents to casts votes, foes of voting-by-mail, led by Assemblymembers Norm Blakley of Sterling and Jesse Bjorkman of Nikiski, have filed a referendum petition application to have the measure repealed by voters in October.
    The Borough Mayor's Office and assembly members were notified by the clerk of the filing on Thursday.
    The clerk’s office has sent the application to the borough legal department for review, and expects an opinion on or before July 2.
    If the application is certified, petition booklets will be made ready for distribution within two weeks and the applicant will have 90 days from the date they are issued to secure 1,362 signatures.
    However, in order to appear on this October’s Municipal Election ballot, the completed petition booklets would need to be returned to the clerk’s office by July 27.
    Ordinance 20-24 not only provides for vote-by-mail elections, but provides for more time between regular elections and run-offs, and it removes position statements from ballot initiatives in the voter pamphlet. It passed the assembly three weeks ago on a 6-to-3 vote.
    The application to repeal was also signed by Seward Assemblymember Kenn Carpenter and 19 others, almost all from the Central Kenai Peninsula.