George Ahmaogak is contesting the outcome of the special run-off election for North Slope Borough Mayor. Charlotte Brower won the election, the final tally was 1,022 to 960.
Ahmaogak filed his notice on Tuesday the same day Brower took office. He lists seven grounds for contesting the election including missing ballots and recording discrepancies.
“There are inconsistencies and irregularities in the whole process and the final numbers kept changing every day, different versions every day and it just doesn’t balance out,” Ahmaogak said.
Ahmaogak’s campaign contends the election should not have been certified until the discrepancies were cleared up. On his campaign website, Ahmaogak says, “I don’t have reasonable faith and confidence the voter’s will is upheld.” He says he’s not convinced all the votes were counted.
The Borough Clerk did not agree to a recorded interview. The new Borough Attorney also refused to be recorded but said she is assembling an independent team to investigate the election results.
Annie Feidt is the broadcast managing editor at Alaska Public Media. Reach her at afeidt@alaskapublic.org. Read more about Annie here.
