Mat-Su voters back major road and school funding while incumbents keep their seats, preliminary results show

What you need to know:

• Preliminary Mat-Su voting results show both a $36.4 million bond for 10 major road projects and a $58 million proposal to fund three new charter school buildings won voter approval. A fire service area change for Caswell and Willow also appeared to pass.
• All incumbents appeared to retain their seats in the Mat-Su Mayor, Assembly, and School Board races, according to preliminary results. Newcomer Andrew Shane ran unopposed for the School Board District 4 seat. 
• Unofficial preliminary results include only votes cast on Election Day and early votes cast by Friday. All other votes, including about 7,000 absentee and questioned ballots, have yet to be counted.

A pair of major Matanuska-Susitna Borough funding packages appeared to win voter approval Tuesday, while incumbents appeared to keep their seats in every borough race, according to preliminary results available early Wednesday.

The bond packages provide $36.4 million for 10 major road projects across the borough and $58 million to fund the construction of three public charter school buildings. Combined, they would increase Mat-Su property taxes by up to $51 per $100,000 in assessed value, according to borough estimates. 

Road funding appeared to win approval by a wide margin, with a vote of 18,283 to 7,639, according to unofficial results that did not include all ballots. Funding for charter school construction also appeared to pass, with a vote of 13,325 to 12,682.

In the Mat-Su Assembly race, all incumbents appeared to retain their seats. In District 7, which includes Talkeetna, Ron Bernier led challenger Sheena Fort, 2,145 to 1,675, according to preliminary results. In District 3, which includes parts of Palmer and Wasilla, incumbent Dee McKee led challenger Luke Hyce, 2,559 to 924. In District 6, incumbent Dmitri Fonov ran unopposed.

Unofficial preliminary results include only votes cast on Election Day and early votes cast by Friday. All other votes, including about 7,000 absentee and questioned ballots, have yet to be counted. The Assembly is scheduled to certify the election on Nov. 19.

Tuesday's election saw a 28.5% voter turnout among Mat-Su residents, according to preliminary results. That compares with a turnout of about 33% in 2020, the last year with a presidential race also on the ballot. In 2016, another presidential election year, turnout was about 28%.

Borough Mayor Edna DeVries appeared to secure a second consecutive term, winning 22,426 to 1,374 against write-in candidates. Those included Hillary Palmer, who ran as a write-in candidate after her name was removed from borough ballots following confusion over a missed financial filing deadline.

In school board races, incumbent Tom Bergey led challenger Ben Kolendo 3,059 to 1,437 in the District 1 race. Kolendo previously served on the board as a nonvoting student representative. District 1 includes Butte and Sutton.

Andrew Shane, a former member of the school district's now-disbanded Library Citizens' Advisory Committee, ran unopposed for the District 4 school board seat, which includes the city of Wasilla. That seat is currently held by Jubilee Underwood, who appeared to beat incumbent David Eastman for the District 27 state House seat with just over 51% of the vote, according to preliminary state results. Find all other state House results here and state Senate results here.

Incumbent school board member Brooks Pitcher ran unopposed for District 5, which includes Big Lake.

A ballot question before voters in Caswell and Willow to officially combine the fire service areas for those regions appeared to pass in both areas, with 481 to 411 votes in Willow and 181 to 113 in Caswell.

This week’s election ushered in two subtle but significant changes to local ballots approved by the Assembly early this year.

Candidates newly elected to full terms as mayor or to the borough assembly will serve four years, up from three. Candidates for mayor, assembly, and school board also appeared on the ballot with a political party affiliation, a first for local governments in the state.

-- Contact Amy Bushatz at abushatz@matsusentinel.com