Ginger Douglas leads a three-way write-in race for Kotzebue City Council Seat E by three votes, according to unofficial results from the Oct. 6 municipal election.
Douglas has 28 votes. William Biesemeier has 25 and Lena Ellen McClellan has 3.
No candidates filed for Seat E before the August deadline. The seat’s winner will serve the final year of a three-year term that Ruth Moto won in 2024.
Ernest Norton, Derek Haviland Lie and Cory Jackson ran unopposed for Seats A, B and C.
Jackson will replace Joshua Eilghuk Hadley in Seat C. Hadley said he chose not to seek reelection so he could focus on his campaign for the Northwest Arctic Borough Assembly. He lost that race, for District 4, Seat H, to Craig McConnell.
Haviland Lie also ran for the borough assembly. He lost the District 4, Seat G race to Cyrus Harris.
Election workers hand-counted 257 ballots. Two questioned ballots were rejected after the state Division of Elections found the voters were actively registered in another precinct, according to the city clerk.
About 14% of Kotzebue’s 1,830 registered voters cast ballots in the city election, based on borough registration figures.
The results become official after the City Council canvasses the election at its meeting on Oct.15.
