Municipal elections hold no surprises

The municipal election results for Tuesday, Oct. 6, were a foregone conclusion as none of the seats saw competing candidates, including the separate election for the Nome representative seat on the Norton Sound Economic Development Board. Of Nome's 2,540 registered voters, 251 showed up at Old St. Joe’s to cast their votes. After election workers tallied up the votes and put away the voting booths, City Clerk Dan Grimmer said he found it remarkable that still close to 10 percent of voters showed up despite the lack of competition before announcing the unofficial, preliminary results to the Nome Nugget:
Adam Martinson, incumbent of Nome Common Council, Seat A, garnered 219 votes, with 18 write-ins.
Randy Oles, running for Seat B on the Nome Common Council, received 221 votes, with 16 write-ins.
Incumbent and candidate for Utility Board Seat B, Derek McLarty, got 200 votes, with 24 write-ins.
Incumbent and candidate for Utility Board Seat C, Carl Emmons, received 225 votes; there were 13 write-ins.
School Board Seat B incumbent and candidate Meghan Sigvanna Tapqaq received 216 votes; there were 23 write-ins.
School Board Seat C incumbent and candidate David O’Neill received 222 votes, with 11 write-ins.
In the municipal election, there were two questioned and two spoiled ballots.
The NSEDC election, which does not allow for write-ins as the candidates are previously vetted to qualify to run, resulted in the election of JT Sherman, with 241 votes cast for him.
The municipal election will be canvassed by the Nome Common Council on Thursday, October 8 at 7 p.m. at City Hall.