The City of Kenai on Wednesday certified its election results and welcomed a new face to the Kenai City Council.

Incumbent Deborah Sounart won reelection with 471 votes in her favor. Newcomer Sovala Kisena won election with 406 votes in his favor. There were 37 ballots cast for write-ins. There were 673 total ballots cast, compared to 6,470 registered voters in Kenai, for a turnout of 10.40%.

According to the results recorded by the Kenai Canvass Board on Oct. 8 — included in the agenda packet for the council’s Oct. 16 meeting — 129 absentee, questioned and personal needs ballots were counted after election night on Oct. 1. Of those, five were rejected — four because they came from voters who weren’t registered to vote and one because it came from a voter who cast their ballot on election day.

Results were certified by a unanimous vote of the council.

Absentee votes added 74 ballots each to the two candidates running for the two open seats on the Kenai City Council over the unofficial results published the night of the election.

Both will serve three-year terms ending in October 2027. Kenai City Clerk Shellie Saner administered oaths of office during the meeting.

“Thank you to the residents of the City of Kenai for supporting me for another term,” Sounart said during the meeting. “I am excited about the direction of the city. I’m excited to be on the council and to be part of these projects that are coming up.”

A full recording of the meeting and the complete election results can be found at kenai.city.

Reach reporter Jake Dye at jacob.dye@peninsulaclarion.com.

Kenai City Clerk Shelie Saner administers an oath of office to Sovala Kisena during a meeting of the Kenai City Council in Kenai, Alaska, on Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024. Kisena won election to the council during the Oct. 1 municipal election. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)