Midtown Assembly candidates near end of complicated race

April 17, 2010

Midtown Assembly candidate Andy Clary says he's disappointed in Friday's results, but thinks he did everything he could to win. (Bill Costello/KTUU-DT)

by Jackie Bartz
Saturday, April 17, 2010

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- After several polling place errors delayed the decision in Midtown's Anchorage Assembly race, the city finally announced new numbers Friday night. According to unofficial final election results, Dick Traini edged out Andy Clary by 174 votes.

Traini and Clary spent 10 days in the dark, each hoping for a favorable outcome -- and now the results are in.

"I have to say, I was a bit surprised because the first set of ballots that came in absentee were heavily in my favor -- so the only basis I had to go on was that the trend would continue that way," Clary said. "It didn't. My opponent actually gained votes, so that was a bit of a surprise to me."

"It's nice to be back home again -- I enjoy the Assembly, I like what we do," Traini said. "We do everything from the type of dog you own, to the type of fence you can have to the roads in this town, and I wanted to be back on that body because I think I've got something to add to it."

Voters cast their ballots for the Midtown Assembly seat on April 6, but they didn't find who won until April 16.

"It's not over until every ballot has been counted," Traini said. "Because everybody that votes, we have the obligation to go through every ballot to make sure every one was cast legally and nobody's voted twice."

"I'm disappointed," Clary said. "I wanted to win, absolutely, but I don't have any regrets. I felt like I did everything I could do and definitely got the message out."

It was a tight race, made more complicated by several polling place errors.

First, election workers handed out Midtown Assembly ballots to some Downtown voters at the Anchorage Senior Center, resulting in 160 improperly cast ballots.

A few days later, City Clerk Barbara Gruenstein announced that 29 people voted improperly for the Midtown race at the College Gate Elementary School in East Anchorage and Spring Hill Elementary School in South Anchorage. A few hours later, Gruenstein revised the number of improper votes to four.

"It's always with great apology to the voting public and to the candidates, and we try really hard to have no mistakes, but mistakes do happen," Gruenstein said Friday.

Just like any political battle, there's a winner and a loser.

"I just appreciate my opponent being in it," Traini said. "He had his points of view, I have mine, the public has decided -- now we move forward."

"I think we'll definitely -- this is not the end for me," Clary said. "It's definitely a passion of mine and just being involved this far, it's just been a real great experience."

The election results will be certified by the city on Tuesday. Clary can challenge the results; he says he is considering all his options and he's not sure what he will do.

Contact Jackie Bartz at jbartz@ktuu.com

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