The Anchorage Assembly’s certification of the April regular city election results has officially set the stage for the final stretch of the mayoral race. Incumbent Mayor Dave Bronson, who is running for a second term, will face off against his challenger, former Assembly Chair Suzanne LaFrance, in a runoff election.
Bronson and LaFrance emerged as the top two candidates after none of the 10 mayoral candidates in the regular election reached the required 45% threshold to win outright. LaFrance received 36.2% of the vote, while Bronson received 35.6%, according to the official election results.
Runoff election ballots will be mailed to voters on April 30, and the final day to vote is May 14, according to the city’s election calendar. Voters who return their ballots by mail on or before May 14 should ensure their ballot package is postmarked on or before that date. Alternatively, voters can drop off their ballots at one of the 18 secure drop boxes across the municipality or vote in person at one of the three vote centers scheduled to open on May 7.
To accommodate voters who will be traveling during the runoff, the municipal clerk’s office is accepting applications for temporary address voting. The deadline to apply is May 7, and voters can also apply to vote by fax or email.
In a related development, Mark Littlefield was sworn into office during Tuesday night’s Assembly meeting to represent District 2, Eagle River/Chugiak, after winning his Anchorage Assembly race unopposed. Littlefield replaces former member Kevin Cross, who resigned two years into his three-year term.
The city saw a voter turnout of 30.4% in April, with a total of 72,250 ballots cast. While lower than the previous two regular mayoral elections, this turnout still exceeded that of city elections held in years leading up to the city’s switch to a vote-by-mail system in 2018. The implementation of this system was intended to encourage higher voter participation.
However, it’s important to note that Anchorage’s election commission rejected an additional 1,087 ballots for various reasons, including 602 ballot packages with unverifiable signatures and 269 ballot packages postmarked after the April 2 election day.
