A Break From The Political Stuff

Yesterday I posted some pics of the surf from Venice Pier.  The surf was up and they're worth a look of you didn't get to see that post because of all the election coverage. 

Just before I got to pier, I stopped at the skateboard plaza on Venice Beach and got these pictures.  The better camera (than my pocket Powershot) really does make a difference. 

University of Alaska Southeast Gets New Chancellor With PhD

It may not seem to be notable for a university to have a head with a doctorate, but for a number of years the University of Alaska system hasn't had any PhD's in any of the top positions.  Neither the president of the system nor the chancellors of the three main campuses - Fairbanks, Anchorage, and Southeast (Juneau) -  have doctoral degrees.

There are times when someone without a doctoral degree can head a university and even bring some fresh new ideas and administrative intelligence.  But to have all the positions devoid of a strong academic background is problematic.

So, it's good to see that we're finally getting some academic depth into a position of leadership at the University.  Maybe when the new chancellor at Fairbanks and the new president of the system are selected, we'll be up to three out of the four top positions with doctorates.

All that said, with the current budget cutting, Dr. Caulfield has a daunting task before him.  I wish him well.  And perhaps we will start seeing strong advocacy for the university again, as we saw when Mark Hamilton was president.  Rather than passive acceptance of cuts.

Here's the part of the bio the university released with the announcement.

"Dr. Caulfield has been a part of the University of Alaska for more than 30 years. He began his higher education teaching career in 1985 at the university’s Bristol Bay Campus. He became a full professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks as part of the Department of Alaska Native and Rural Development. His research interests took him to Greenland, Denmark, Canada, New Zealand, and Russia. He has published two books and numerous other professional publications and served on national and international science steering committees and boards, including the NSF Oceans-Atmosphere-Ice Interactions Scientific Committee, the International Arctic Social Sciences Association, and the University of the Arctic.

A 40-year Alaska resident, Dr. Caulfield has combined academic and professional interests with experiences in commercial fishing, flying, sailing, home construction, dog mushing, hunting, recreational fishing, and other outdoor pursuits.

Dr. Caulfield earned a PhD in Development Studies from the University of East Anglia in the United Kingdom, a Master’s degree in Education from the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and BA and BS degrees in Political Science and Natural Resources from the University of California, Berkeley."

Election Update #9: Mayor Elect Berkowitz 59.35% Runner Up Demboski 40.65%

Three more precincts added 1,320 votes.  There are still 2 precincts unreported.  That should be about 880 votes if they are like these last three precincts.  And there's the absentee ballots yet to count*.   I'll update this post tomorrow morning when the last two precincts come in. 

But this election is over.   I'm sure different voters had different reasons - but Demboski made a strong stand against gay rights and the voters rejected that.  I expect to see LGBT folks added to our anti-discrimination ordinance before too long.  Welcome, Anchorage, to the 20th century.  Jerry Prevo and Jim Minnery, your power over Anchorage elections is over. 


Reported at:  10:46pm

Votes cast:  61,567

Mayor Elect Ethan Berkowitz - 36,540 59.35%	Runner Up Amy Demboski - 25,027 40.65%

[*UPDATE  11:30pm:  As Anon linked to this ADN report from tonight that says many early votes have been counted and presumably are part of the total we have tonight:

"Deputy municipal clerk Amanda Moser said at least 12,200 people cast votes ahead of Tuesday, up 60 percent over the April 7 election.
Elections officials planned to count roughly 6,000 absentee ballots cast between April 22 and 28 on Tuesday night with ballots cast at regular precincts Tuesday, Moser said.
Moser said officials had received at least 3,900 more absentee ballots that will likely be counted by Friday, along with any additional absentee by-mail ballots that arrive later in the week but were postmarked by Tuesday."]

Election Update #8: This Election Demonstrates Anchorage Voters Are Saner Than Some Thought

Here's how many votes so far:  60,247
There are still five precincts unreported.  This is close to 11,000 more voters than on election night in April.  And Berkowitz is 11,000 votes ahead of Demboski. 

And there are still over 10,000 votes that came in early and will be counted later (at least I'm making the assumption they will do that like last time.) 


DEMBOSKI, Amy     24,555 40.76%
BERKOWITZ, Ethan 35,692 59.24%

Election Results #7 - Berkowitz 59% Demboski 40.9% With 53,761Votes Counted - This Election Is Pretty Much Over

I don't see a way for Demboski to catch up at this point.  There are some 10,000 or so early votes still to be counted.  But I would imagine the spread will be similar to tonight.  But Demboski almost all of them to win.  Not gonna happen. 

source

You know, it will be hard for Demboski to concede to someone who supports fathers marrying their sons.   (The picture of Jonathan Swift is my sarcasm alert icon.)

53,761 votes cast - more than election night in April.  But only 92.7% of all the precincts. 

DEMBOSKI, Amy     22,000 40.93%
BERKOWITZ, Ethan 31,744 59.07%

Election Update #6: Berkowitz 60,5% Demboski 39.4% 46,049 Votes Counted

21:30pm


46,049 votes in.  Just 3,000 or so less than the April election night total.  Has there ever been an Anchorage runoff election with more voters than the main election?  



DEMBOSKI, Amy     18,177   39.47%
BERKOWITZ, Ethan 27,872   60.53%

Election Update #5: Berkowitz 60.4% Demboski 39.6% with 39,217 Votes Counted

At the end of the night in April, 24% of the voters had voted or 49,288 votes.  After the early/absentee votes were counted it was up to 55,260 (26.1%)

Keep that in mind.  That means we could be  3/4 of the way  there  for tonight with this count. 


Time: 21:23pm
Number (%) of votes:  39,217 (19%)

DEMBOSKI, Amy     15,545   39.64%
BERKOWITZ, Ethan 23,672   60.36%

Election Update #4: Berkowitz 62.5% Demboski 37.5%

I would expect Demboski votes to pick up as the South Anchorage and Eagle River/Chugiak votes get counted.



TIME: 21:13 pm
Votes cast: 24120                 11%


DEMBOSKI, Amy       9038 37.47%
BERKOWITZ, Ethan 15082 62.53%


Trying to make this simpler so that Feedburner picks it up

Third Election Update: Berkowitz 62% - Demboski 37% with 12,375 Votes Counted

Let's remember that the votes are taken from the polling places to City Hall to be counted.  The closest polling places to City Hall are downtown where Berkowitz is expected to do well.  The ballots from Eagle River and Chugiak (Demboski's stronghold) will come in a little later. 

There also appear to be 960 new voters since the April election.  Then, there were 206,003 voters listed and tonight there are 206,993.  But remember, that number is very high - almost 90% of voting age folks in Anchorage.  Many have moved away or died, but haven't been purged from the voter list. 

We had 2.6% of votes (at least of the 206,963) counted at the last update. 

This time we have 5.98% counted - or 12,378 votes counted.

05/05/15
20:57:32

Registered Voters 206993 - Cards Cast 12378 5.98%

Num. Report Precinct 124 - Num. Reporting 36 29.03%

MAYOR
		Total
Number of Precincts		124
Precincts Reporting		36	29.0%
Times Counted		12378/206993	6.0%
Total Votes		12375
DEMBOSKI, Amy		4581	37.02%
BERKOWITZ, Ethan		7794	62.98%

Second Set of Election Results - Berkowitz 66% Demboski 33% with 5000+ Votes Counted

Election Summary Report 2015 Runoff Election Summary for Jurisdiction Wide Unofficial Results 05/05/15 20:47:29

Registered Voters 206993 - Cards Cast 5445 2.63%

Num. Report Precinct 124 - Num. Reporting 20 16.13%

MAYOR Total Number of Precincts 124 Precincts Reporting 20 16.1% Times Counted 5445/206993 2.6% Total Votes 5443 DEMBOSKI, Amy 1841 33.82% BERKOWITZ, Ethan 3602 66.18%