LaFrance Carries Girdwood in April 2 Election

Cemetery Proposition Passes in Girdwood to no Avail

By:  Brooks Chandler

TN Contributor

Suzanne LaFrance was the clear favorite among Girdwood voters in the April 2 mayoral election.  LaFrance received 64 percent of the votes cast for mayor according to results certified by the Anchorage Assembly on April 23.  

This compares to 36 percent of votes for LaFrance city-wide.   Mayor Dave Bronson finished a distant second in Girdwood with 15 percent of votes cast.  

Citywide Bronson received only 473 votes less than LaFrance, a difference of less than 1 percent.   In Girdwood LaFrance received 387 votes more than Bronson.

Picture of the April 2 ballot (Photo by Jon Scudder)

LaFrance was also favored by 46 percent of Indian/Bird Creek voters receiving 59 votes compared to 39 votes, or 30 percent, for Mayor Bronson, LaFrance's closest competitor.    

The results in other South Anchorage precincts, many of which LaFrance represented as an Assembly member, were more mixed.  The certified results show Bronson outpolling LaFrance in the majority of South Anchorage and Hillside precincts.

According to the Municipal Clerk’s office, 808 of Girdwood’s 1,949 registered voters participated in the April 2 election.  That equals a  41 percent turnout.   Indian/Bird Creek did even better turning out 43 percent of 302 registered voters.  City wide turnout was 30.4 percent.

Mayoral preference was not the only result where Girdwood votes varied widely from Anchorage votes.  Proposition 7,  the Cemetery Bond,  was favored by 455 of 792 Girdwood voters (57.4 percent).  Area wide only 43.5 percent of voters favored Proposition 7.   

Proposition 7 included bonding to create a cemetery in both Eagle River and Girdwood plus make improvements to the existing cemetery in downtown Anchorage.  Because cemetery service is an “area-wide” service all property owners in Anchorage would have repaid the proposed bonds through property taxes.  

No Eagle River precinct supported Proposition 7.   All 7 downtown Anchorage precincts plus Government Hill joined Girdwood in voting yes on Proposition 7. 

The official certified results by precinct can be found at www.muni.org/Departments/Assembly/Clerk/Elections/Election%20Results/2024-0423%20StatementOfVotesCastRPT.pdf