Seldovia council adopts election‑code changes requiring registered write‑ins and swapping costly tie elections for lot draws

The Seldovia City Council unanimously adopted Ordinance 25‑11 on April 28, 2025, revising municipal election procedures to require deliberate write‑in candidates to register and establishing a simpler method for resolving tied elections.

City Clerk Liz told the council the ordinance adds a new section (2.32.056) that would require prospective write‑in candidates to "register up to 3 p.m. the day before the election" and file the same declaration and disclosure forms as regular candidates so votes for them can be counted. She also said the ordinance would replace an expensive special mail‑in tie election with a tiebreaker conducted "by lot or coin toss," a method used by many other Alaska municipalities.

The change grew from previous incidents when write‑in ballot tallies produced outcomes that the clerk said the city could not verify under existing code. During public comment Laurel Hiltz said a community practice has been for voters to add names at the polls, and she cautioned that requiring registration could reduce spontaneous local write‑in candidacies. "So the notion that a person would have registered to be written in might not be indicative of what actually happens in Seldovia," Hiltz said, noting informal write‑ins have served the community in the past.

Clerk Liz and other council members responded that the ordinance does not prevent voters from writing names on ballots but establishes a process to confirm the eligibility of candidates who are actively seeking votes as write‑ins; that confirmation allows the city to count those votes without additional post‑election appointment procedures. After brief council discussion the motion to adopt Ordinance 25‑11 passed unanimously.

What happens next: The ordinance as adopted adds a formal path for intentional write‑in candidates to declare before election day and substitutes a low‑cost tiebreaker method in the event of an exact tie. The ordinance text referenced the city's municipal code chapters under the elections section and will be reflected in the city election procedures for the next municipal election cycle.

Votes at a glance: Ordinance 25‑11 — adopted unanimously.

Authorities referenced: the draft ordinance text amending Seldovia municipal code (election sections) and the city clerk's explanatory materials provided at the meeting.

The council scheduled no additional action on the ordinance; it is now part of the city's municipal code as amended.