By Ken Smith
Turnagain Times
Tuesday, Nov. 4 was a historic election day when Americans voted for the country’s first black president by more than a 2-to-1 margin as Democrat Barack Obama was elected the 44th president of the United States. Democrats also gained more seats in the U.S. House and Senate, increasing their majority control.
On the Presidential ticket, Alaska stuck to its conservative roots with Republican John McCain garnering 61 percent of the votes to 36 percent for Barack Obama.
Turnagain Arm communities bucked the state-wide trend, with Girdwood overwhelmingly supporting Obama with a vote of 614-253. In Indian only six votes separated the candidates 76-70 for Obama, and Hope voted 44-32 for Obama. The conservative base was evident in Whittier with the majority of voters choosing McCain 70-32.
In Alaska, tightly contested races in the U.S. Senate between Ted Stevens and challenger Mark Begich will be decided when more than 40,000 absentee ballots are counted as well as 9,000 uncounted early votes and thousands of questioned ballots. About 3,700 votes separated the two candidates a day after the election with 95 percent of precincts reporting.
Begich received strong support from Girdwood winning by a vote of 553-307. In Indian Stevens edged out Begich 72-63. Begich also won in Hope with a vote count of 51-26, and in Whittier Steven’s edged Begich 55-48.
Don Young, Alaska’s lone Congressman for the last 35 years was leading Democrat Ethan Berkowitz by more than 16,000 votes with 96 percent of the precincts reporting.
Berkowitz overwhelmingly won in Girdwood with a vote of 606-245. Indian voted 76-67 in favor of Berkowitz, Hope 54-25 for Berkowitz and Whittier 59-38 for Young.
Locally the turnout was strong like much of the state and nation with nearly 50 percent of registered voters in Girdwood (894 total votes) and Hope (80 total votes) showing up at the polls, Indian (151 total votes) had the highest turnout at 57 percent, and Whittier (107 total votes) the lowest at 38 percent.
In the local race for District 32, Democrat Mike Kenny was soundly defeated by incumbent Republican Mike Hawker by a margin of nearly 30 percent in an unofficial result of 5,298 to 2,914.
The one bond proposition on the ballot, a $315 million package to sell bonds to pay for highway improvements, new traffic intersections and bridge repairs was strongly supported by all Turnagain Arm communities and Whittier.
One project included in the package will directly benefit Turnagain Arm residents, $20 million to improve the Seward Highway’s Windy Corner.
Voters in Girdwood overwhelmingly approved the measure on a vote of 579-252, Indian voted 80-65, Hope 52-25 and Whittier 70-31.