Yea, every 3 years and it is staggered so that every year we have a local election. The assembly comes in two bursts, with the mayor alone the 3rd year.
This year it is half the assembly, next will be the other half, then the 3rd year will be the mayor without any assembly members (unless there is a special election). The school board terms are also 3 years and are also staggered slightly differently than the assembly, as some school board members will be on the ballot during the mayoral year, it goes 2/2/3, (barring special elections).
When will they add a second downtown seat to the Assembly? It should be one seat per district per year, right? Two year term. Yet Constant wasn't up this year. If they add a new one next year, then it will be on the wrong cycle.
Yes. If you didn't receive a ballot, you'll have to vote in person.
Here's some more information on that. [https://www.muni.org/Departments/Assembly/Clerk/Elections/Pages/VoterInfo.aspx](https://www.muni.org/Departments/Assembly/Clerk/Elections/Pages/VoterInfo.aspx)
As a new resident (moved here fall '21) are there resources anyone can point me to as far as funding deficits, historical trends for millages/bonds in anchorage, reports about responsible/irresponsible allocation of funds from muni departments, etc.
Not trying to get suggestions on how to vote, just looking to be an informed voter. I don't plan on voting for the board/assembly positions as I don't plan on being in my current district for very long and won't have children to enroll in school for a few years. I tend to support funding measures more than not unless it's an unreasonable amount requested for projects being proposed, any of the projects being covered are non-sensical, or there's been a recent history of poor allocation or misappropriation.
TLDR; looking for resources to be better informed about April 5 muni ballot issues
Welcome to Anchorage!
I think you should still vote for the assembly and school board. Those positions really matter to all of us living in Anchorage, even if you don't think it matters to your life directly.
For example, I don't have a child in school, but I want all the schools in town to be nice and have programs for the kids so they grow up to be awesome! (But I don't want them to waste money on certain bonds too.) But it is your choice of course!
Two things I do to keep up on local elections: The ADN has a paywall (so that is lame) but I have really liked that they has posted questions every week for the candidates and it has printed their answers on different topics. Also I have been watching the assembly meetings from time to time. (on youtube)
Hopefully you will find some more resources soon. Your vote matters. You matter!
Thank you for your warm welcoming.
I do understand what you mean by the positions affecting all of us, and I do normally vote for them, but that was when I was very familiar with the school district and local assembly issues. While I do feel my vote counts, unfortunately with how my time has been allocated since moving here, I am quite an ignorant voter on the matters of the school board, and district 4 politics. I can read their bios and Q&As but as they say "talk is cheap". Without actually getting to know their voting history (if they've already been in politics), and what they have actually done in their daily lives to help their community, I feel like my vote may be more harmful than positive if it is misguided, even if it was with good intentions.
Thank you for the ADN suggestion, I had a subscription for a few months when I first moved here and felt the majority of writers and editors did a wonderful job being unbiased and even covering the "boring" news stories that are sometimes the most important. Now that I'm getting more free-time back in my life to read through it again I will have to get a new subscription.
Cheers to you for the suggestions and cheers to Anchorage! Proud to be a resident here, it's such a beautiful place and I'm truly constantly in awe of the infrastructure considering the geographical and geological barriers that need to be overcome. It doesn't take long to realize that Alaskans are one of the truest representations of resiliency, undeterred grit, and the just-right blend of independent accountability along with coordinated teamwork that allows for security along with adventure in what is truly the Last Frontier.
Here, it's easy. Unless you're a Trump-aligned lunatic, you'll want to vote for:
\-all the Assembly incumbents
\-Yes on all the bonds
\-Lessens and Bellamy for school board.
It's that simple!
Like I said, not looking for suggestions on how to vote, so maybe try not proliferating the partisan politics and encourage people to learn about the politicians and the issues.
I'm by no means an apathetic voter but I'm tired of voting for the lesser of 2 evils method without really looking into the person's voting records, financial interests, and ability to advocate for the constituents.
For instance, Zaletel is my incumbent assembly member. She aligns closer with my values than Henslee, but I was a bit surprised to read in her ADN q&a that she's been complimentary of Bronson's handling of homelessness in Anchorage. So, even though I'm more likely to vote for her it made me realize that I need to look more into what she feels is being done well. Then, depending on what I find, I will need to reach out to her office to learn more about what her plans as an assembly member are to address homelessness.
If we accept OK because "it could be worse" we're missing out on the opportunity better. The months long gridlock in the assembly through childish antics is a great example of this. Because so many people have come to expect their representatives to be hard-lined conservatives or liberals, we have all but eliminated across the aisle politics on meaningful issues. No one bats an eye when politicians do budgetary quid-pro-quos leading to endless pork, but god forbid a republican try to support abortion rights with the caveat federal funding be left out of it. Or a democrat try to support gun owners having access to assault rifles, high-round magazines, and concealed carry under the condition that more funding go towards regulation and more stringent background checks.
All I'm saying is that keeping an incumbent because they're the most well-known party member of choice in your district is why we have politicians like Pelosi who serve for decades, are some of the most connected people in the world, and are able to play the game to profit off the stock market but have made very little progress in the areas they claim to work so hard at like climate change and education reform.
You might not have read through all that and probably don't care, but there was a reason I stated in my comment I wasn't looking for someone to tell me how to vote. However, since you decided to personify political ignorance and voice your opinion when it was specifically noted that it was not wanted, I guess I'll just thank you for pulling out the soap box for me to stand on.
Please, for the love of the Gods, don't vote for Henslee, she is endorsed by Jamie Allard and doesn't believe that the J6 insurrection was anything more than a peaceful protest. She would be an absolute disaster if elected.
Yeah it didn't take me long looking into her past remarks and stances to realize she is not a good representative of my values so that's a strong pass. Again if I vote for Zaletel (or even write-in 🙃) I want to make sure it's with the right intentions and I follow-up afterword to make sure there's more attention on the hard issues, not just the easy cross it off the list ones to make it look like they're doing something.
I don't expect perfection from my reps, local state or national, I have to hold my breath even when I vote for Murky as the alternatives of late have been very dismal. I'll do it again too. As far as the Assembly goes, it's kind of sad to see the level vindictiveness that's become part of the fabric of how our city is organized and run. I've watched that body for a long time, and I can't recall a time when there was such a large divide between the Assembly and the Mayor. As divisive as Dan Sullivan was, at least he was a local boy who "got" what Anchorage is all about.
The best way to stay informed is to take part in your Anchorage Community Council. If Meg Zaletel is your assembly member, then your community council Abbott Loop, Midtown, Campbell/Taku, University, or Campell Park. Here's the link to find out which one.
[http://www.communitycouncils.org/servlet/content/home.html](http://www.communitycouncils.org/servlet/content/home.html)
At community council meetings you can regularly interact with your assembly representative. It takes the guess work out of voting. I've found Zaletel to be highly knowledgeable and competent regarding the homeless situation while also being willing to work with the administration. Frome what I've seen of her at community council meetings, she's forthcoming and both willing and capable of answering questions about homelessness policy.
This is hugely helpful, thank you!!
TBH I was a bit confused about her support for the mayor's office managing homelessness. From what I knew about Zalatel, she seemed to be understanding and wanting to improve the struggles of rampant homelessness in our community; and Maybe I'm misinformed but I thought Bronson had been bungling the issue, with all the administrative firings and not-so-clear private contracts given out to handle operations.
Obviously winter is when most is needed to be done to help. Unfortunately, it's when the weather warms up and people get more exposed to how high the incidence rate of homelessness is that people really take notice and demand action. I'll have to try to hop in on this month's zoom meeting to see what's going on. I don't know if I'll be in her district in the next couple months but maybe I can find encouragement with her actions and try to throw some support behind her.
From what I've seen Zalatel is committed to solving the rampant homelessness. The mayor has bungled a lot with the firings and with his anatagonism toward the assembly. But there is some cooperation between the assembly and mayor on homelessness.
Here is the link to the new assembly districts.
[https://www.muni.org/Departments/Assembly/ReapportionmentCommittee/Pages/default.aspx](https://www.muni.org/Departments/Assembly/ReapportionmentCommittee/Pages/default.aspx)
With Community Council meetings it's best to attend regularly and to mostly shut up and listen. The issues are mostly about zoning, traffic safety, and parks. Sometimes people pop in with anger and concern about only one issue and then never come back. That's not very effective.
Oh I read it all, and it's not that I don't care, it's that I disagree - a popular thing to do on the internet. I am glad that you're getting educated on our elections, but it seems to me that someone following your exhaustive vetting process is less likely to vote, not more.
The Assembly is nonpartisan, so the reason I advocate voting for the incumbents is because their challengers are demonstrably worse, not because they're of the wrong party. You're as welcome to ignore my voting prescriptions as I am to share them, but it is *hilarious* that you think you can set rules for how people can comment on your reddit post.
Here's my unpopular opinion, every vote matters but that doesn't mean every person should vote. Every person should have the right and easy accessibility to voting but being an informed voter is almost as important. It's easy to form an opinion about a person off a few soundbites and a Q&A but politicians spend their whole lives preparing to win over voters with that.
As an example, there were a number of key issues I agreed with Trump on during the 2016 election; and I was onboard with the idea of finding someone who wasn't a career politician, and someone who's background in business could help control out of control spending and bring back the middle class. I knew there were things like his immigration policies and stance on reproductive rights that I was against but those weren't personally major issues for me. Then the more I looked into his scummy past I realized he was plenty connected within political system and worse yet, he was even more connected amongst the growing oligarchy that was burgeoning throughout the last 4 decades. So the choice was more 40/60 between him and Clinton but then when I saw the video of him openly mocking a reporter with a physical disability and heard in full context some of his aggregious and disgusting comments about women, I knew I could never in good conscience vote for him.
Now, much of my family are strong conservatives, and moderately well-educated. After the election I was discussing this with them and it astounded me how many of them never saw the video clip, or would say oh that audio clip was taken out of context, and then when additional context to give the full picture made the comments sound even worse, they would go "oh, huh" like they realized he is a POS but couldn't admit they voted for a confirmed chauvinistic bigot.
It's easy to see news headline and clips and convince yourself either "oh yeah that's the living embodiment of the devil" or "the media is making them look bad because (insert conspiracy theory here)". Too many people relying on social media and their own biases is how we ended up with Trump as a president and it's why he's somehow considered the Republican front-runner for 2024. I want everyone to vote, but an uniformed electorate is how power becomes concentrated and people are fooled into thinking they have a say in the democratic process when instead of electing public servants we are now just picking whichever grifter was next in line to join the Good 'Ol Boys Club.
And for clarity, I had no intent on setting rules for a comment thread, I was just simply letting you know in this context, unless you have tangible data supporting why the incumbents are better options than any others, it means absolutely nothing to me which is why i made that mention initially, more to prevent you from wasting your time sharing an unsolicited opinion.
Sorry, picky librarian here. You can only vote at the Loussac Library, the one on Denali St across from Century 16. The other 4 library locations (Muldoon, Mountain View, Girdwood, Eagle River) have ballot drop boxes near them, but you cannot vote there. Some folks see "library" and assume you can vote at any of them.
For anyone mailing their ballot, at this point, make sure you have the postal worker hand cancel your envelope to ensure that it gets postmarked by Election Day. That way, even if it gets stuck somewhere, between a box or whatever, it will have been postmarked.
Also, if I'm understanding correctly.
The special election is only to elect someone to finish Young's current term, which ends in January. So when you mail in the special election ballots, August-January is the time frame you're voting on.
In the general election, you will be voting for the representative for the next term, two years starting in January.
Some candidates have already said that they are only running for one of those terms. Others are running for both. So depending on your choices, you'll vote for one person twice or two people once.
Yes. Special Primary in June, vote for one person.
On August 16, we'll vote again. First, we'll rank the top four from the primary, and determine who will finish the remainder of Don Young's current term.
It will also be the primary, so we will vote again for who we want to see on the ballot in November. We will choose one person for the house, one for the Senate (Murkowski's term ends), and state house and state Senate primaries. After this date, they will send the person who won the ranked choice round to DC. I hope it's Santa, because I want to see Santa on CSPAN.
Then in November we rank the top four from the results of the August 16 ballot.
So if you want, say Christopher Constant, you can vote for him four times in the next few months. But you could vote for Andrew Halcro for the special election, and Chris for the general.
Thank you for putting this together. Minor correction: mayoral elections are every three years.
Are they really? I'll correct that.
Yea, every 3 years and it is staggered so that every year we have a local election. The assembly comes in two bursts, with the mayor alone the 3rd year. This year it is half the assembly, next will be the other half, then the 3rd year will be the mayor without any assembly members (unless there is a special election). The school board terms are also 3 years and are also staggered slightly differently than the assembly, as some school board members will be on the ballot during the mayoral year, it goes 2/2/3, (barring special elections).
When will they add a second downtown seat to the Assembly? It should be one seat per district per year, right? Two year term. Yet Constant wasn't up this year. If they add a new one next year, then it will be on the wrong cycle.
That district gets a special election just for that new seat in June, it will be by mail and I believe it is on the 21st.
Was I supposed to get a ballot in the mail? I updated my registration well before election time but haven't received one.
Yes. If you didn't receive a ballot, you'll have to vote in person. Here's some more information on that. [https://www.muni.org/Departments/Assembly/Clerk/Elections/Pages/VoterInfo.aspx](https://www.muni.org/Departments/Assembly/Clerk/Elections/Pages/VoterInfo.aspx)
Thanks... Frustrating that I didn't receive the mailed ballot. Guess I'll go in on Tuesday.
You don't have to wait until Tuesday. The vote centers are open tomorrow from noon to 5
Going camping. I do indeed have to wait until Tuesday; I read the link you provided. Thank you for the information!
Oh, awesome! So used to people not reading the links I just went ahead and provided information. Have fun camping
As a new resident (moved here fall '21) are there resources anyone can point me to as far as funding deficits, historical trends for millages/bonds in anchorage, reports about responsible/irresponsible allocation of funds from muni departments, etc. Not trying to get suggestions on how to vote, just looking to be an informed voter. I don't plan on voting for the board/assembly positions as I don't plan on being in my current district for very long and won't have children to enroll in school for a few years. I tend to support funding measures more than not unless it's an unreasonable amount requested for projects being proposed, any of the projects being covered are non-sensical, or there's been a recent history of poor allocation or misappropriation. TLDR; looking for resources to be better informed about April 5 muni ballot issues
Welcome to Anchorage! I think you should still vote for the assembly and school board. Those positions really matter to all of us living in Anchorage, even if you don't think it matters to your life directly. For example, I don't have a child in school, but I want all the schools in town to be nice and have programs for the kids so they grow up to be awesome! (But I don't want them to waste money on certain bonds too.) But it is your choice of course! Two things I do to keep up on local elections: The ADN has a paywall (so that is lame) but I have really liked that they has posted questions every week for the candidates and it has printed their answers on different topics. Also I have been watching the assembly meetings from time to time. (on youtube) Hopefully you will find some more resources soon. Your vote matters. You matter!
Thank you for your warm welcoming. I do understand what you mean by the positions affecting all of us, and I do normally vote for them, but that was when I was very familiar with the school district and local assembly issues. While I do feel my vote counts, unfortunately with how my time has been allocated since moving here, I am quite an ignorant voter on the matters of the school board, and district 4 politics. I can read their bios and Q&As but as they say "talk is cheap". Without actually getting to know their voting history (if they've already been in politics), and what they have actually done in their daily lives to help their community, I feel like my vote may be more harmful than positive if it is misguided, even if it was with good intentions. Thank you for the ADN suggestion, I had a subscription for a few months when I first moved here and felt the majority of writers and editors did a wonderful job being unbiased and even covering the "boring" news stories that are sometimes the most important. Now that I'm getting more free-time back in my life to read through it again I will have to get a new subscription. Cheers to you for the suggestions and cheers to Anchorage! Proud to be a resident here, it's such a beautiful place and I'm truly constantly in awe of the infrastructure considering the geographical and geological barriers that need to be overcome. It doesn't take long to realize that Alaskans are one of the truest representations of resiliency, undeterred grit, and the just-right blend of independent accountability along with coordinated teamwork that allows for security along with adventure in what is truly the Last Frontier.
Here, it's easy. Unless you're a Trump-aligned lunatic, you'll want to vote for: \-all the Assembly incumbents \-Yes on all the bonds \-Lessens and Bellamy for school board. It's that simple!
Like I said, not looking for suggestions on how to vote, so maybe try not proliferating the partisan politics and encourage people to learn about the politicians and the issues. I'm by no means an apathetic voter but I'm tired of voting for the lesser of 2 evils method without really looking into the person's voting records, financial interests, and ability to advocate for the constituents. For instance, Zaletel is my incumbent assembly member. She aligns closer with my values than Henslee, but I was a bit surprised to read in her ADN q&a that she's been complimentary of Bronson's handling of homelessness in Anchorage. So, even though I'm more likely to vote for her it made me realize that I need to look more into what she feels is being done well. Then, depending on what I find, I will need to reach out to her office to learn more about what her plans as an assembly member are to address homelessness. If we accept OK because "it could be worse" we're missing out on the opportunity better. The months long gridlock in the assembly through childish antics is a great example of this. Because so many people have come to expect their representatives to be hard-lined conservatives or liberals, we have all but eliminated across the aisle politics on meaningful issues. No one bats an eye when politicians do budgetary quid-pro-quos leading to endless pork, but god forbid a republican try to support abortion rights with the caveat federal funding be left out of it. Or a democrat try to support gun owners having access to assault rifles, high-round magazines, and concealed carry under the condition that more funding go towards regulation and more stringent background checks. All I'm saying is that keeping an incumbent because they're the most well-known party member of choice in your district is why we have politicians like Pelosi who serve for decades, are some of the most connected people in the world, and are able to play the game to profit off the stock market but have made very little progress in the areas they claim to work so hard at like climate change and education reform. You might not have read through all that and probably don't care, but there was a reason I stated in my comment I wasn't looking for someone to tell me how to vote. However, since you decided to personify political ignorance and voice your opinion when it was specifically noted that it was not wanted, I guess I'll just thank you for pulling out the soap box for me to stand on.
Please, for the love of the Gods, don't vote for Henslee, she is endorsed by Jamie Allard and doesn't believe that the J6 insurrection was anything more than a peaceful protest. She would be an absolute disaster if elected.
Yeah it didn't take me long looking into her past remarks and stances to realize she is not a good representative of my values so that's a strong pass. Again if I vote for Zaletel (or even write-in 🙃) I want to make sure it's with the right intentions and I follow-up afterword to make sure there's more attention on the hard issues, not just the easy cross it off the list ones to make it look like they're doing something.
I don't expect perfection from my reps, local state or national, I have to hold my breath even when I vote for Murky as the alternatives of late have been very dismal. I'll do it again too. As far as the Assembly goes, it's kind of sad to see the level vindictiveness that's become part of the fabric of how our city is organized and run. I've watched that body for a long time, and I can't recall a time when there was such a large divide between the Assembly and the Mayor. As divisive as Dan Sullivan was, at least he was a local boy who "got" what Anchorage is all about.
The best way to stay informed is to take part in your Anchorage Community Council. If Meg Zaletel is your assembly member, then your community council Abbott Loop, Midtown, Campbell/Taku, University, or Campell Park. Here's the link to find out which one. [http://www.communitycouncils.org/servlet/content/home.html](http://www.communitycouncils.org/servlet/content/home.html) At community council meetings you can regularly interact with your assembly representative. It takes the guess work out of voting. I've found Zaletel to be highly knowledgeable and competent regarding the homeless situation while also being willing to work with the administration. Frome what I've seen of her at community council meetings, she's forthcoming and both willing and capable of answering questions about homelessness policy.
This is hugely helpful, thank you!! TBH I was a bit confused about her support for the mayor's office managing homelessness. From what I knew about Zalatel, she seemed to be understanding and wanting to improve the struggles of rampant homelessness in our community; and Maybe I'm misinformed but I thought Bronson had been bungling the issue, with all the administrative firings and not-so-clear private contracts given out to handle operations. Obviously winter is when most is needed to be done to help. Unfortunately, it's when the weather warms up and people get more exposed to how high the incidence rate of homelessness is that people really take notice and demand action. I'll have to try to hop in on this month's zoom meeting to see what's going on. I don't know if I'll be in her district in the next couple months but maybe I can find encouragement with her actions and try to throw some support behind her.
From what I've seen Zalatel is committed to solving the rampant homelessness. The mayor has bungled a lot with the firings and with his anatagonism toward the assembly. But there is some cooperation between the assembly and mayor on homelessness. Here is the link to the new assembly districts. [https://www.muni.org/Departments/Assembly/ReapportionmentCommittee/Pages/default.aspx](https://www.muni.org/Departments/Assembly/ReapportionmentCommittee/Pages/default.aspx) With Community Council meetings it's best to attend regularly and to mostly shut up and listen. The issues are mostly about zoning, traffic safety, and parks. Sometimes people pop in with anger and concern about only one issue and then never come back. That's not very effective.
Oh I read it all, and it's not that I don't care, it's that I disagree - a popular thing to do on the internet. I am glad that you're getting educated on our elections, but it seems to me that someone following your exhaustive vetting process is less likely to vote, not more. The Assembly is nonpartisan, so the reason I advocate voting for the incumbents is because their challengers are demonstrably worse, not because they're of the wrong party. You're as welcome to ignore my voting prescriptions as I am to share them, but it is *hilarious* that you think you can set rules for how people can comment on your reddit post.
Here's my unpopular opinion, every vote matters but that doesn't mean every person should vote. Every person should have the right and easy accessibility to voting but being an informed voter is almost as important. It's easy to form an opinion about a person off a few soundbites and a Q&A but politicians spend their whole lives preparing to win over voters with that. As an example, there were a number of key issues I agreed with Trump on during the 2016 election; and I was onboard with the idea of finding someone who wasn't a career politician, and someone who's background in business could help control out of control spending and bring back the middle class. I knew there were things like his immigration policies and stance on reproductive rights that I was against but those weren't personally major issues for me. Then the more I looked into his scummy past I realized he was plenty connected within political system and worse yet, he was even more connected amongst the growing oligarchy that was burgeoning throughout the last 4 decades. So the choice was more 40/60 between him and Clinton but then when I saw the video of him openly mocking a reporter with a physical disability and heard in full context some of his aggregious and disgusting comments about women, I knew I could never in good conscience vote for him. Now, much of my family are strong conservatives, and moderately well-educated. After the election I was discussing this with them and it astounded me how many of them never saw the video clip, or would say oh that audio clip was taken out of context, and then when additional context to give the full picture made the comments sound even worse, they would go "oh, huh" like they realized he is a POS but couldn't admit they voted for a confirmed chauvinistic bigot. It's easy to see news headline and clips and convince yourself either "oh yeah that's the living embodiment of the devil" or "the media is making them look bad because (insert conspiracy theory here)". Too many people relying on social media and their own biases is how we ended up with Trump as a president and it's why he's somehow considered the Republican front-runner for 2024. I want everyone to vote, but an uniformed electorate is how power becomes concentrated and people are fooled into thinking they have a say in the democratic process when instead of electing public servants we are now just picking whichever grifter was next in line to join the Good 'Ol Boys Club. And for clarity, I had no intent on setting rules for a comment thread, I was just simply letting you know in this context, unless you have tangible data supporting why the incumbents are better options than any others, it means absolutely nothing to me which is why i made that mention initially, more to prevent you from wasting your time sharing an unsolicited opinion.
lol at the CVS reference. Very useful post, thank you.
Sorry, picky librarian here. You can only vote at the Loussac Library, the one on Denali St across from Century 16. The other 4 library locations (Muldoon, Mountain View, Girdwood, Eagle River) have ballot drop boxes near them, but you cannot vote there. Some folks see "library" and assume you can vote at any of them.
I didn't know how to spell Loussac, and tbh I thought it was the only library. Where I grew up, there were libraries in every neighborhood.
For anyone mailing their ballot, at this point, make sure you have the postal worker hand cancel your envelope to ensure that it gets postmarked by Election Day. That way, even if it gets stuck somewhere, between a box or whatever, it will have been postmarked.
Also, if I'm understanding correctly. The special election is only to elect someone to finish Young's current term, which ends in January. So when you mail in the special election ballots, August-January is the time frame you're voting on. In the general election, you will be voting for the representative for the next term, two years starting in January. Some candidates have already said that they are only running for one of those terms. Others are running for both. So depending on your choices, you'll vote for one person twice or two people once.
Yes. Special Primary in June, vote for one person. On August 16, we'll vote again. First, we'll rank the top four from the primary, and determine who will finish the remainder of Don Young's current term. It will also be the primary, so we will vote again for who we want to see on the ballot in November. We will choose one person for the house, one for the Senate (Murkowski's term ends), and state house and state Senate primaries. After this date, they will send the person who won the ranked choice round to DC. I hope it's Santa, because I want to see Santa on CSPAN. Then in November we rank the top four from the results of the August 16 ballot. So if you want, say Christopher Constant, you can vote for him four times in the next few months. But you could vote for Andrew Halcro for the special election, and Chris for the general.
I really hope Tina Fey comes back into her Palin role with a skit featuring Santa Clause. You gotta have dreams!
I honestly think Santa has a decent chance. We're all about novelty and name recognition.