Send this article to Promobot

Election contest hearing rescheduled

December 16th 2:47 pm | Staff Print this article   Email this article   Create a Shortlink for this article

A hearing scheduled for Monday to examine responses from the North Slope Borough to allegations that the recent runoff election for borough mayor was mismanaged was rescheduled for 9 a.m. Wednesday due to weather.

Mayor candidate George Ahmaogak has contested the election results after he apparently lost the election by 62 votes, saying that significant issues regarding vote tallies as well as questions of vote buying and irresponsible actions by the borough clerk have tainted the process.

The borough was to present responses to a long list of complaints from Ahmaogak last week, but asked for an extension. On Dec. 9, the borough presented a response saying many of the inconsistencies regarding initial vote counts were the result of the borough clerk Jeannie Brower releasing unofficial results to candidates. Brower was asked to testify as to the details of those releases.

In addition, the borough responded to claims that Brower might have had ballots in her vehicle when she was in an accident, arrested and temporarily incarcerated.

"It does not appear to the Borough that she was in possession of the ballots at the time of the accident," Assistant Borough Attorney John C. Boyle, III, stated in the borough response, adding that the clerk, as well as arresting officers should testify as to the events.

The borough also noted that ballots from Point Hope "made a circuitous journey" from the village to Barrow because of the storm.

"During that time, it appears that (the ballots) may have been handled by and employee of the Northwest Arctic Borough before being picked up by a non-clerk employee of the North Slope Borough..." the response stated.

All hearings regarding the investigation are to be public, according to investigating attorney Dennis E. "Skip" Cook, who was hired by the borough assembly to independently investigate the claims. Claims of vote-buying, however, were to have been forwarded to the district attorney's office. Many of the original documents are available for download on the borough's Web site under http://www.north-slope.org/departments/ assembly/notices/.

 

Contact us about this article at editor@thearcticsounder.com

Copyright 2012 The Arctic Sounder is a publication of Alaska Media, LLC. This article is © 2012 and limited reproduction rights for personal use are granted for this printing only. This article, in any form, may not be further reproduced without written permission of the publisher and owner, including duplication for not-for-profit purposes. Portions of this article may belong to other agencies; those sections are reproduced here with permission and Alaska Media, LLC makes no provisions for further distribution.