Mayor Dan Sullivan is back at work Wednesday after pulling in a lot more votes than his nearest competitor in the race, Paul Honeman. But the day after the 2012 election and its ballot confusion, Honeman said he's not ready to concede, and like Mayor Sullivan, is seeking legal advice.
Sullivan declared victory outright during his weekly press conference Wednesday.
“I appreciate the voters’ confidence in granting us a second term,” he said.
Sullivan said he's focused on running an efficient and effective city government, while Municipal Attorney Dennis Wheeler examines the election.
Wheeler said he's looking at state and federal cases to see what, if any remedy exists for an election in which several voters are denied the right to cast a ballot.
“I can tell you that based on what I’ve seen so far a new election would be the last remedy that a court would look to,” he said.
Sullivan added that the disenfranchised votes probably wouldn't make a difference, given his margin of victory -- more than 20 percentage points, before a count of questioned and absentee ballots.
When asked if he was satisfied with the election process, Sullivan said he didn’t have enough information on what happened, to offer an opinion.
Honeman, meanwhile, says it's premature to admit defeat.
“Right now we’re not conceding anything because there are just so many unanswered questions,” he said.
His staff may be packing up its current office, but Honeman says they're setting up at another site, to continue exploring their options. The Honeman campaign is also seeking legal guidance.
“We need to correct the errors that occurred last night,” he said, “this shouldn’t be allowed to stand.”
Certification of the election is scheduled for April 17th.
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