In the race for two Kodiak Island Borough Assembly seats, Jeremiah Gardner and Jeffery Woods received the most votes with 963 and 730 respectively. Both picked up an additional 70 votes after absentee, early votes and by-mail were tallied.
Over 700 by-mail ballots were sent out to the surrounding village communities on Kodiak Island. Only those that were returned to the borough before the deadline at end of day on Tuesday, Oct. 14, were counted. Separately, 330 ballots were cast during early voting this year.
Borough Assembly votes:
· Jeremiah Gardner - 963
· Rob Lindsey - 628
· Caroline Roberts - 524
· Kristina Van Hoogmoed - 632
· Jeffery Woods -730
And in the head to head borough mayor race between incumbent Scott Arndt and assembly member Jared Griffin, Griffin unseated Arndt by a margin of 180 votes after receiving more than one thousand total. Arndt received 899 votes while Griffin got 1,079.
All three candidates will be sworn in at tonight’s Kodiak Island Borough Assembly meeting and start their three-year terms immediately.
During this year’s municipal election, 21% out of the 10,075 registered voters in the borough voted. Same goes for the City of Kodiak, with 21% of 4,073 city voters casting ballots this year. Although it’s still a relatively small voter turnout, this year saw more votes than any Kodiak Island Borough election in the past three years, from 2022 – 2025, according to borough records.
- Chiniak had 38 votes cast out of 131 registered voters, or 29%
- Bells Flats had 194 votes cast out of 1,769 registered voters, or 10.9%
- Larsen Bay precinct (which includes Akhiok, Karluk and Larsen Bay) had 17 votes cast out of 158 registered voters, or 10.7%
- Kodiak No. 1 precinct [harbormaster's office] had 370 votes cast out of 2007 registered voters, or 18%
- Kodiak No. 2 precinct [teen center] had 343 votes cast out of 2,066 registered voters, or 16.6%
- Mission Road precinct had 663 votes cast out of 3,527 registered voters, or 18.7%
- Old Harbor had 11 votes cast out of 113 registered voters, or 9%
- Ouzinkie had 11 votes cast out of 136 registered voters, or 8%
- Port Lions had 27 votes cast out of 168 registered voters, or 16%
Voters had several options to choose from this year, with five candidates running for Kodiak Island Borough Assembly, four on the ballot for Kodiak City Council and city mayor, as well as two others running to be the borough mayor.
As for the city results, it came down to three votes to determine who would win one of the city council seats. After initially being tied at 354 votes, Djuna Davidson edged out Nick Mangini to take the second council seat behind top vote getter Sandra West.
City Council votes
· Jay Celli - 239
· Djuna Davidson - 366
· Nick Mangini - 363
· Sandra West – 522
· And five votes for write-ins
City staff note that some voters may have only selected one council candidate instead of two and a few did not vote for any of the mayoral candidates.
The outcome for city mayor has not changed, as councilmember Terry Haines remains ahead of Alan Seale by more than 100 votes. Since Haines will become the mayor, his seat on the city council will be vacated. That means the mayor and the council will appoint a qualified candidate living within city limits to temporarily fill the vacancy. That individual would sit on the council until the next municipal election in October of 2026.
City Mayor votes
- Mark Anderson - 203
- Terry Haines - 331
- J. Alan Seale - 225
- Mary Jean Silva – 97
- And three votes for write-ins
The city’s canvassed results are expected to be certified during the city council’s next regular meeting next week on Oct. 23.
*And for transparency, both of the incoming Kodiak mayors, Griffin and Haines, are staff members at KMXT Radio. They do not have any editorial influence over news stories and neither of them reviewed this story before it was published.
Also on the ballot this year was one KIBSD school board candidate, incumbent James “Jim” Pryor. He ran unopposed and received 1,529 votes.
And finally, for the Service Area Board seats:
Bay View Road Service Area Board
· Jim Carmichael - 25
Service Area No.1 Board
- Jason Bunch – 583
- Andy Graham (write-in) – 32
- Dennis Symmons (write-in) - 2
Fire Protection Area No. 1 Board
· Mike Dolph – 724
Womens Bay Service Area Board
· Billy Ecret – 147
And no candidates ran for the two open seats on the Monashka Bay Road Service Area Board, so the Borough Assembly will fill those vacancies by appointment.
