The candidate filing period for Juneau’s Oct. 3 municipal election opened Friday, and four candidates are certified to run for office so far.
Prospective candidates for Juneau’s four open Assembly seats and two open school board seats have until 4:30 p.m. on Monday, July 24 to file their paperwork with the city clerk’s office.
According to the city’s website, former school board member Paul Kelly and U.S. Coast Guard veteran Ivan Nance have filed to run for the two open areawide Assembly seats.
One of the areawide seats is currently occupied by Maria Gladziszewski. She has served for three terms and is not allowed to run for a fourth. Carole Triem recently resigned from her areawide seat. Former Assembly member Loren Jones will fill her seat until the election. The areawide candidate with the most votes will win the full three-year term, and the runner-up will finish the remaining year of Triem’s term.
Current Assembly members Christine Woll and Alicia Hughs-Skandijs have both filed for reelection in districts 1 and 2. No one had been certified to run for school board as of Friday afternoon.
Areawide candidates can live anywhere in town, but candidates running in districts 1 or 2 must live in those districts. Candidates need to submit a declaration of candidacy form, a nominating petition with at least 25 signatures, a candidate statement and an Alaska Public Offices Commission financial disclosure form to run for office.
If people have been thinking about running but aren’t completely decided, Andi Hirsh from the city clerk’s office says there’s still time to make up your mind.
“I would say, if you’re on the fence, go ahead and get this paperwork in,” she said on Juneau Afternoon Friday. “And then you have until July 28 to withdraw your name from the ballot.”
Hirsch says the main mistakes she sees would-be candidates make when filing for office are having illegible handwriting on the candidate support forms, or not fully writing out supporters’ addresses on the nominating petition.
Juneau’s local election takes place by mail. Ballots will be mailed out to registered voters in mid-September. Two vote centers will open Monday, Sept. 18 for in-person voting through Election Day, and secure dropboxes will be placed around town for completed ballots.
Correction: A previous version of this story identified Paul Kelly as a current school board member. His term ended in 2021.