Borough seeks to increase voter turnout through election stakeholder group

Borough seeks to increase voter turnout through election stakeholder group

A resolution to establish an election stakeholders group to explore election models to better serve the peninsula voters was introduced at Tuesday’s Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly meeting.

The resolution would task the borough clerk in establishing the group, which would maximize accessibility and inclusivity in the voting process.

The stakeholders group would evaluate and solicit constituent comments about various election models to better serve borough and municipal voters.

“While local elections directly impact the everyday lives of borough residents, voter turnout in the borough and municipal elections is typically low and the current election process consumes considerable community resources,” the resolution reads.

The borough conducts regular elections through traditional polling places open on election day and by mail for more remote precincts through absentee and in-person voting sites, according to the resolution.

The stakeholder’s group would also research ways to increase voter turnout in the area.

The group would include a representative of borough administration, one community resident who would represent the interest of people with visual impairments, two members of the borough’s canvas board, one member representing the League of Women Voters, the municipal managers and one council member from each of the borough’s municipalities and two borough assembly members.

The group is slated to form and meet by August 2019.

More in News

Poster for Return of the Reds. (Photo courtesy Kenai Peninsula Food Bank)
Poster for Return of the Reds. (Photo courtesy Kenai Peninsula Food Bank)
Return of the Reds returns after several-year hiatus

The Kenai event celebrates the start of the 2023 salmon season

Middle schoolers practice fly casting into the Kenai River during a kids camp put on by Trout Unlimited on Wednesday, May 24, 2023, at the Donald E. Gilman Kenai River Center in Soldotna, Alaska. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Learning to love the watershed

Kids camp teaches fly fishing, ecology

Alaska State Troopers logo.
Seward man arrested on drug charges gave false identification, troopers say

Kevin Hakala, 42, was pulled over by Seward-based troopers on Saturday

Poster for 100% Alaska Town Hall & Family Day (Photo courtesy Change 4 the Kenai)
100% Alaska Town Hall to share assessment results, discuss state of ‘vital services’

The project is composed of four steps: assess, plan, act and evaluate

Division of Forestry & Fire Protection engines responding to the Charland Fire on May 21, 2023, near Soldotna. (Photo courtesy Kenai-Kodiak DOF)
9 fires reported on Kenai Peninsula since start of May

The largest local fire was the Charland Fire, which was reported on Sunday

File.
4 days in July set for Ninilchik razor clam harvest

The abundance of adult clams is below the threshold necessary to open the fishery in Clam Gulch

Foliage surrounds the Soldotna Police Department sign on Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2022, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
Police identify human remains found near Sterling Highway

They were located approximately 200 yards southeast of 43199 Sterling Highway

Most Read