The votes are in: Starr Marsett has pulled ahead in the race for Anchorage School Board Seat B and the Girdwood-only proposition authorizing a tax for police has narrowly passed, according to the latest results for this year's city election provided Friday by the Municipal Clerk's Office.
Amanda Moser, deputy city clerk, said Friday that the office may still receive a few absentee ballots by mail before the election is certified Tuesday. They must have been postmarked by election day, April 5. Still, Moser said she did not expect the results provided Friday to change by much.
The two major outcome reversals after this week's ballot count:
• Starr Marsett, a real estate agent, jumped ahead in the race for School Board Seat B. She had 68 more votes than her opponent Kay Schuster by 4 p.m. Friday. Marsett sits on several Anchorage School Board committees and was notified of the new results by a reporter Friday.
"So you are telling me I won?" she said, laughing before she started to cry. "I can't tell you how happy I am. This is something I've been working for for a long time. Wow. I'm very happy. I can't wait to get in there and start working for the kids."
• The Girdwood-only proposition authorizing a tax to pay for police services also passed, but only by two votes. The votes were locked in a tie Wednesday, the last day the clerk's office updated results. By Friday, 410 people had voted in favor of the tax and 408 had voted against it. The tax would only apply to people in the Girdwood Valley Service Area.
Moser said roughly 6,000 absentee and questioned ballots were totaled throughout this week.
After this week's count, there were no changes in outcomes among the Assembly races and eight city-wide propositions on the ballot, including the more closely contested ones. The Anchorage School District bond proposition still failed, with 229 more people voting against it than for it. In the Assembly race in South Anchorage, John Weddleton had 588 more votes than Treg Taylor.
The election will be certified at an Anchorage Assembly meeting Tuesday.