THE ALASKA STORY
Sept. 20, 2026 – Juneau’s municipal election season moves into full swing Monday when two in-person voting centers open for the Oct. 6 election, giving residents the opportunity to decide five local races and three tax-related ballot propositions.
Ballots were mailed Friday to registered Juneau voters from the City and Borough of Juneau’s printing contractor in Washington state. The election is conducted primarily by mail, although voters may cast ballots in person at City Hall or the Mendenhall Valley Public Library beginning Monday, Sept. 21.
Three Assembly seats are on the ballot: one areawide seat, one District 1 seat and one District 2 seat. Voters also will choose two members of the Juneau Board of Education. Although Assembly candidates must reside in the district they seek to represent, every qualified Juneau voter may vote in all three Assembly races.
The Assembly areawide contest features incumbent Paul Kelly and challengers Brad Sapp and James McCants.
Kelly, an application developer who has served on the Assembly since 2023 and previously served on the Juneau School Board, lists homelessness, public education, tourism diversification, flood mitigation, and waste management among his priorities.
Sapp is an FAA Flight Standards district manager, Army veteran, aviator, and aircraft mechanic. He is emphasizing a permanent response to the Mendenhall Valley flooding problem, housing, infrastructure, public safety, economic growth and greater fiscal accountability at City Hall.
McCants, a commercial driver and small-business owner, is an Army veteran who has made housing and development central to his campaign. His candidate statement calls for Juneau to build enough housing to accommodate people who want to remain in or move to the community.
Mila Cosgrove is unopposed for the District 1 Assembly seat. Cosgrove, a consultant and former deputy city manager, lists housing, economic diversification, public education, infrastructure, recreation, the arts and balanced municipal budgets among her priorities.
Four candidates are competing for the District 2 seat: Karla Hart, Joyce Niven, Malachi Thorington and David Lee Morris.
Hart describes herself as a “Healthier Juneau” candidate. She supports more government control of short-term rentals and reducing cruise tourism, including limiting the number of ships to those that can use shore power.
Niven is a consultant and retired housing developer who worked for the Tlingit Haida Regional Housing Authority. She identifies affordable housing, a balanced city budget, economic diversification, flood mitigation and services for seniors among her priorities.
Thorington, an electrician, commercial fisherman, diver and Southeast Alaska tradesman, supports opening more public land for housing, pursuing a permanent solution to Suicide Basin flooding, addressing Juneau’s solid-waste problem and seeking more value rather than simply more volume from cruise tourism.
Morris, a Coast Guard veteran and longtime Juneau resident, is emphasizing economic development, including mining, fishing, tourism and hydroelectric projects. He also supports opening land for housing, prioritizing basic infrastructure and reducing spending on discretionary municipal projects.
Three candidates are seeking two seats on the Juneau Board of Education: incumbents Britteny Cioni-Haywood and David Noon, and challenger Christine Johnson.
Cioni-Haywood is a state administrative operations manager, University of Alaska Southeast adjunct instructor and current board member. She points to her experience with the district’s recent fiscal crisis, school consolidation and labor negotiations, and supports stable funding, smaller class sizes when resources permit and retaining teachers and staff.
Noon, also a current board member, is a UAS history professor. He says his priorities include preserving teaching and staff positions, reducing class sizes, and maintaining what he describes as a rich and inclusive educational environment.
Johnson is a small-business owner, photographer and mother of four. She has emphasized student safety, parental trust, transparency, accountability and support for special-education students and their families.
The ballot also contains three propositions, all involving local taxes.
Proposition A would renew Juneau’s temporary 3% areawide sales tax for another five years, from July 1, 2027, through June 30, 2032. Approval would keep Juneau’s overall sales-tax rate at 5% while the separate temporary 1% tax remains in place.
The Assembly says one percentage point of the renewed tax would be used for police, fire protection, street maintenance, snow removal, ambulance service, parks, libraries and other general purposes. A second percentage point would go toward roads, drainage, retaining walls, sidewalks, stairs and other capital projects. The final percentage point would be allocated annually by the Assembly among capital improvements, reserves and other public services.
Proposition B is a citizen-sponsored charter amendment that would lower the maximum property-tax rate the Assembly can impose without voter approval from 12 mills to 9 mills. Property taxes needed to pay general-obligation bond debt would remain outside the cap. The Assembly could exceed the new limit only after obtaining approval from a majority of voters.
Proposition C is another citizen initiative and would establish a new permanent 1% seasonal sales tax from April 1 through Sept. 30 each year. The initiative says revenue from the tax is intended to help pay for indoor and outdoor recreation. If both propositions A and C pass, Juneau’s combined sales-tax rate could rise to 6% during the six-month seasonal-tax period while the other taxes remain in effect.
The two vote centers will be located at the City Hall Assembly Chambers, 155 Heritage Way, and the Mendenhall Valley Public Library, 3025 Dimond Park Loop.
City Hall will be open for voting Monday through Friday from 8 am to 4:30 pm. The Valley Library will be open Monday through Thursday from 10 am to 6 pm and Fridays and Saturdays from noon to 5 pm. Both locations will be open from 7 am until 8 pm on Election Day.
State polling places will not be used for the municipal election.
Juneau also has five secure ballot drop boxes available around the clock until 8 pm Oct. 6. They are located, starting Friday, Sept. 18, at: :
Alaska Electric Light and Power Company (AEL&P)
5601 Tonsgard Ct, Lemon Creek
City Hall – Corner near Marine Way and Shattuck Way
155 Heritage Street, Downtown
Douglas Public Library
1016 3rd Street, Douglas
Mendenhall Valley Public Library
3025 Dimond Park, Valley
Statter Harbor BOAT Launch Parking
(not the Harbor Office parking lot)
11801 Glacier Highway, Auke Bay
Voters returning ballots through the US Postal Service must provide first-class postage. Mailed ballots must be postmarked no later than Oct. 6 and received before the election is certified. Election officials recommend that voters mailing ballots close to Election Day take them to a postal counter and request a hand postmark.
Ballots deposited in one of the five drop boxes do not require postage.
More candidate information, the sample ballot and voting instructions are available on the City and Borough of Juneau election website
