People vote in polling booths at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex on Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2022, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

People vote in polling booths at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex on Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2022, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

Voices of the Peninsula: What’s on your 2023 schedule so far?

There is a Kenai Peninsula Borough Special Mayoral Election coming up in February

  • By Therese Lewandowski
  • Tuesday, January 3, 2023 10:29pm
  • Opinion

Yes, we spent so much time on the multiple elections last year, but wait! Here comes another…

There is a Kenai Peninsula Borough Special Mayoral Election coming up in February. The candidate will finish out the previous borough’s mayor term, which ends October 2023. There are four candidates running. Information about them can be found at the borough’s election site: https://www.kpb.us/assembly-clerk/elections/166-borough/clerks/elections.

The deadline to register to vote for this election is Jan. 14 at elections.alaska.gov. Absentee in-person voting begins Jan. 30 at Homer City Hall, the Soldotna Prep School, Kenai City Clerk’s office, Seldovia City Clerk’s office and Seward City Clerk’s office, 8 a.m.-5 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Feb. 14 is the borough’s special election day.

New session begins in Juneau

While we spent a lot of time researching, listening to and reading candidate information so we could cast our informed vote, the candidates did a ton of work campaigning and those who won our vote are now going to work!

The 33rd Alaska State Legislative Session begins Jan. 17. Legislators have already been busy, though, as Dec. 30 was their deadline to request new bills for prefile.

We can all benefit from tracking what our legislators are busy with: what bills they are sponsoring, what committees they end up on, how they vote on bills moving through. Check out akleg.gov/basis for tracking all of this, go to KTOO.org/gavel and listen to live or archived recordings of sessions and committee hearings. Stop by your local Legislative Information Office where you will find schedules and have opportunities to testify at hearings.

You can be an informed voter and citizen. All votes count and all voices matter.

Therese Lewandowski for Kenai Peninsula Votes

More in Opinion

A vintage Underwood typewriter sits on a table on Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2022, at the Homer News in Homer, Alaska. (Photo by Michael Armstrong/Homer News)
Letters to the editor

Masculinity choices Masculinity is a set of traits and behaviors leading to… Continue reading

Gov. Mike Dunleavy gestures during his State of the State address on Jan. 22, 2026. (Photo by Corinne Smith/Alaska Beacon)
Opinion: It’s time to end Alaska’s fiscal experiment

For decades, Alaska has operated under a fiscal and budgeting system unlike… Continue reading

Northern sea ice, such as this surrounding the community of Kivalina, has declined dramatically in area and thickness over the last few decades. Photo courtesy Ned Rozell
20 years of Arctic report cards

Twenty years have passed since scientists released the first version of the… Continue reading

Larry Persily. (Juneau Empire file photo)
Opinion: World doesn’t need another blast of hot air

Everyone needs a break from reality — myself included. It’s a depressing… Continue reading

A vintage Underwood typewriter sits on a table on Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2022, at the Homer News in Homer, Alaska. (Photo by Michael Armstrong/Homer News)
Opinion: Federal match funding is a promise to Alaska’s future

Alaska’s transportation system is the kind of thing most people don’t think… Continue reading

Larry Persily. (Juneau Empire file photo)
Opinion: Dunleavy writing constitutional checks he can’t cover

Gov. Mike Dunleavy, in the final year of his 2,918-day, two-term career… Continue reading

Photo courtesy of the UAF Geophysical Institute
Carl Benson pauses during one of his traverses of Greenland in 1953, when he was 25.
Carl Benson embodied the far North

Carl Benson’s last winter on Earth featured 32 consecutive days during which… Continue reading

A vintage Underwood typewriter sits on a table on Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2022, at the Homer News in Homer, Alaska. (Photo by Michael Armstrong/Homer News)
Letters to the editor

Central peninsula community generous and always there to help On behalf of… Continue reading

Six-foot-six Tage Thompson of the Buffalo Sabres possesses one of the fastest slap shots in the modern game. Photo courtesy Ned Rozell
The physics of skating and slap shots

When two NHL hockey players collide, their pads and muscles can absorb… Continue reading

Alaska’s natural gas pipeline would largely follow the route of the existing trans-Alaska oil pipeline, pictured here, from the North Slope. Near Fairbanks, the gas line would split off toward Anchorage, while the oil pipeline continues to the Prince William Sound community of Valdez. (Photo by David Houseknecht/United States Geological Survey)
Opinion: Alaskans must proceed with caution on gasline legislation

Alaskans have watched a parade of natural gas pipeline proposals come and… Continue reading

Van Abbott.
Looting the republic

A satire depicting the systematic extraction of wealth under the current U.S. regime.

Larry Persily. (Juneau Empire file photo)
Opinion: It’s OK not to be one of the beautiful people

This is for all of us who don’t have perfect hair —… Continue reading