City elections move to November

Published 1:30 am Tuesday, March 17, 2026

Going forward, City of Homer elections will be held in November instead of October.

The shift comes after the Homer City Council approved an ordinance at their last regular meeting on March 9, amending city code dealing with elections regulations. Ordinance 26-16(A) aligns city elections, previously held in October, with the Kenai Peninsula Borough and State of Alaska elections that are now both held in November.

Borough elections were also previously held in October, until a ballot proposition was approved by a majority of voters last fall that shifted them to coincide with the state elections in November.

Both the ordinance and council discussion noted that the City of Homer has historically collaborated with the borough on elections administration, including sharing costs for ballot programming and printing, election equipment and election workers. If the city chose to maintain holding their elections in October, administration costs would increase “significantly” and the city would lose out on the cost-savings previously seen in collaborating with the borough on elections.

Homer News previously reported that in addition to changing the city election date, Ordinance 26-16(A) also made several other changes to elections code, including changing the filing period dates for declarations of candidacy. Previously, the period opened on Aug. 1 and closed by Aug. 15. Now, the candidacy filing period will be held Sept. 1-15.

Additional changes to city code sections pertained to election expenses, voting procedures and runoff elections. The ordinance also updated language pertaining to prohibitions, questioned ballot procedures and absentee ballot eligibility.

Homer City Code 4.01.100, “Expenses,” previously stated that the city will pay election officials a similar hourly rate to officials for state elections. The ordinance changed this from “state” elections to “borough” elections.

HCC 4.40.020 previously set runoff elections, if required due to the outcome of a regular election, to be held on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November. Under Ordinance 26-16, runoff elections will now be held on the Tuesday after the first Monday in December.

A Jan. 29 memorandum from the city clerk to the council also notes that moving the election date back by one month will extend current sitting council members’ terms by one month. HCC 2.08.030 does specify that council members are elected “for three year terms and until a successor qualifies” — in this line, current council members may continue to serve in their seats until the next November election or a December runoff when either they are reelected or a successor is elected for their seat.

Discussion sparked by a memorandum from council member Jason Davis was also held in previous council meetings on potential revisions to the way election percentages are calculated. No changes were made to this effect in the final passage of Ordinance 26-16(A).

The ordinance underwent a public hearing during the March 9 meeting, but no in-person testimony was given by the community.

“This is a really big deal. I’m kind of surprised that we haven’t gotten any comments on it,” council member Donna Aderhold said during the meeting. “I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again — I really don’t want to change our election date, but I think that we need to have our election aligned with the borough’s elections, or our voter turnout will drop even lower than it already is.

“So I’m for this, but I want the public to know that this is what we’re getting ready to do.”

The ordinance passed without objection from the rest of the council.

“RIP, October municipal elections,” Mayor Rachel Lord said.

Find Ordinance 26-16(A) and supplemental materials, as well as the March 9 meeting recording, in full at www.cityofhomer-ak.gov/citycouncil/city-council-regular-meeting-347.