Alaska school board elections see majority of candidates unopposed

### October 2, 2013[edit]

By Alex Schaffer

Elections took place on October 1 in three of Alaska's largest school districts. Five of the nine elections were won by candidates who ran unopposed, with incumbents Sue Hull, Lynn Hohl, Susan Pougher and Edith-Helen Hilts earning three-year terms on their respective school boards and newcomer Wendy C. Dominique earning a one-year seat on the Fairbanks North Star Borough School Board.[1] In the Matanuska-Sustina Borough School District Seat G election, Ray Michaelson defeated incumbent appointee David Cheezem.[2] Voter turnout was high in the Fairbanks North Star and Matanuska-Susitna boroughs, but voters cast fewer than 2,000 ballots total in the Kenai Peninsula Borough.

Only a third of the campaigns were close, with two elections featuring newcomers narrowly defeating incumbents. In the Fairbanks North Star Borough School District Seat D election, Allyson Lambert, a retired Judge Advocate General officer in the US Navy, won a close election against incumbent Charlie Leonelli and fellow challenger April Johnson. Lambert won the election by a margin of just over 200 votes. In the Matanuska-Sustina Borough School District Seat F race, Donna Dearman defeated three other candidates, including incumbent Neal Lacy, in an election that separated Dearman and Lacy by less than 200 votes.[3] The closest race came in the low turnout Kenai Peninsula Borough School District, District 1 election, where Daniel J. Castimore defeated D. Shawn Hutchings by just 53 votes.

### Candidates[edit]

Fairbanks North Star Borough School District
Seat C
☑ Sue Hull: 6,393

Seat D
☐ Charlie Leonelli: 2,424
☐ April Johnson: 1,536
☑ Allyson Lambert: 2,646

Seat G
☑ Wendy C. Dominique: 6,126

Kenai Peninsula Borough School District
District 1
☑ Daniel J. Castimore: 278
☐ D. Shawn Hutchings: 225

District 6
☑ Lynn Hohl: 604

District 9
☑ Edith-Helen "Sunni" Hilts: 485

Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District

Seat C
☑ Susan Pougher: 6,674

Seat F
☑ Donna Dearman: 2,435
☐ Stephen C. Jacobson: 1,921
☐ Neal Lacy: 2,300
☐ James A. Tapley: 1,398

Seat G
☑ Ray Michaelson: 4,457
☐ David Cheezem: 3,731

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## See also[edit]

* Alaska school districts

## Footnotes[edit]

1. ↑ Kenai Peninsula Borough, "Election Summary Report October 1, 2013 Regular Municipal Election," October 2, 2013
2. ↑ Phillip Manning, KTNA.org, "Mat-Su Borough and Talkeetna Community Council Election Unofficial Results," October 1, 2013
3. ↑ Matanuska-Susitna Borough, "MATANUSKA SUSITNA BOROUGH OCTOBER 1, 2013 REGULAR BOROUGH ELECTION UNOFFICIAL RESULTS," accessed October 2, 2013 (dead link)

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