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           There were more open seats than candidates around Kodiak yesterday during the municipal election, and two races had just enough candidates to fill the vacancies, meaning voters didn’t have much in the way of choices.
           For example, there were no candidates for the six open seats among the Service Area Number 1 board, Bay View Road Service Area, or the Monashka Bay Road Service Area.
           There were no choices in the race for the Kodiak Island Borough Assembly, where only Chris Lynch and Aaron Griffin vied for the two open seats. Incumbent Jerrol Friend, whose name was still on the ballot, withdrew from the contest last month. Lynch received 699 votes, while Griffin got 688. It was the second election in a year that Griffin did not face any competition. He ran unopposed last October and was elected to the board of education. He will now have to quit that commitment with two years left in his term. It's up to the school board to fill that vacancy.
           Speaking of the school board, there were also only two candidates in the race for the two open seats. Long time incumbent Norm Wooten was re-elected with 775 votes and Debra Kirk received 773.
           There were four candidates in the contest to fill the two openings on the Fire Protection Number 1 board, with Keila Pickett and Rebecca Nelson winning election. Both received 203 votes. Scott Arndt had 159 and Robert Perkins had 80.
           David Conrad was the only candidate for the two seats open on the Womens Bay Road Service Area Board, and he received 98 votes.
           There was a three-way race for the two seats on the Kodiak City Council. Incumbent Gabriel Saravia was re-elected with 243 votes, and newcomer Rich Walker had 233. Incumbent Mark-Anthony Vizcocho, with 211 votes, lost his bid for election after being appointed to a vacated seat earlier this year.
           Proposition 1, which was on the ballot for City of Kodiak residents only, passed by a margin of 287-to-61. It changes the time when elected officials take office. Currently it’s the first meeting after the election is certified, but that sometimes doesn’t happen for over a month. Now, council terms begin the first Monday after an election is certified. That certification is scheduled for October 11th.
           All the results are preliminary and unofficial until the respective governing bodies certify the elections.

Mahim Toure

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           Twenty years ago Kodiak resident Heather Preece had a life changing experience in Mali, West Africa. For four months she worked on a nutrition surveillance program in the northern region of the country and developed close friendships that she said helped shape her into the woman she is today.
            “I’ve always wanted to invite one of the friends that I made in Mali to come and see where I live and kind of complete the cross cultural friendship circle," she said. "And because I had been in touch with Mahim and continued our friendship, I saved airline miles for years and I finally had enough airline miles to buy him a ticket, and here he is.”

           The man is Mahim Toure, and he and Preece have stayed in contact for the better part of two decades. Toure worked alongside Preece in Mali and has since risen through the ranks of humanitarian aide and now works for the United Nations. Toure’s trip to Kodiak is his first outside of Africa, and getting here was no easy task.

Left, two children wait at the Coast Guard Base Kodiak Alaska pier for their father to return from his three month training exercise in Honolulu, Oct. 1, 2012. Family and friends waited at the pier with pets and homemade signs to celebrate the homecoming of the crew. Below, Chief Petty Officer Andrew Pack, an electronics technician aboard the Munro, embraces his family after returning home. Pack, is one of approximately 160 crewmembers aboard the Munro. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Jonathan Klingenberg

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            This is municipal election day around Kodiak Island. Voters will go to the polls to fill seats on the city council, borough assembly and school board, as well as various service areas, though there are some races without any choices and others without any candidates.
    Just like last year, there are only two candidates for two seats on the board of education, which means Debra Kirk and long time incumbent Norm Wooten are almost guaranteed election.
            Another race with no competition is for borough assembly, though it is less obvious. Assemblyman Jeroll Friend withdrew from his re-election bid, but did so five days too late to have his name removed from the ballot. That leaves incumbent Assemblywoman Chris Lynch and current school board member Aaron Griffin vying for the two seats.
            However, since Friend’s name IS on the ballot, he will still be offered the seat if he is one of the top two vote getters. If Friend declines or accepts and immediately resigns, the assembly would have to then follow its usual procedure for filling a vacancy. Borough Clerk Nova Javier (ha-vee-air) said there is no provision in borough code for the third-place candidate to be seated.
           If Griffin is one of the top two vote getters in the assembly election today, he would then have to resign his school board seat, which he won just one year ago, after having no opposition in that election either. The school board will then have to go through the process of filling the vacancy.
            The Kodiak City Council election has the only clearly contested race, with three candidates for two seats. Incumbents Gabriel Saravia and Mark Vizcocho face a challenge by Rich Walker.

           There are a number of service area seats up for grabs today as well, though some races have no takers.
           Polls are open today until 8 p.m. KMXT will have whatever results are available about an hour or two after the polls close, and full coverage on tomorrow’s KMXT news.