Want to run for Mat-Su assembly or school board? Here's what you need to know.
Mat-Su residents have until Aug. 29 to file for six open races in borough elections this fall.
What you need to know:
- Mat-Su residents have until Aug. 29 to file for six open races in borough elections this fall: school board seats in districts 2, 5, and 7, and assembly seats in districts 1, 2, and 4.
- Individuals elected to school board seats during the 2025 elections will serve three years. Assembly seats this year are one-year terms due to recent term-limit updates and special election rules.
- Matanuska-Susitna Borough Election Day is Nov. 4.
PALMER — Mat-Su residents who want to run for assembly or school board this fall must file candidacy papers with the borough clerk by Aug. 29.
Residents can file for one of six races, depending on where they live within the borough. Any borough resident who is a registered voter and has lived in their district for at least one year can run for a seat.
This year’s open positions include Matanuska-Susitna School Board seats for districts 2, 5, and 7, and assembly seats for districts 1, 2, and 4.
Individuals elected to the school board will serve three-year terms. Those elected to the Assembly will serve only one year because of a combination of term-limit updates approved by the Assembly early last year and borough election laws governing members who are appointed to a seat.
Unlike candidates for the school board or those running for office within Palmer, Wasilla, and Houston, individuals who run for the Assembly are required to file a personal financial disclosure form, known as a POFD, with the Alaska Public Offices Commission. Details on that form are available from the borough clerk at the time of filing.
The borough’s election day is scheduled for Nov. 4, one month after Election Day in the region’s three cities.
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Filing packets can be found online or at the borough administration building in Palmer.
Updates to Assembly term limits
The series of one-year terms slated for the borough’s 2025 ballots is tied to two borough election laws, including one newly approved last year.
The District 4 seat is up for reelection because Assembly member Maxwell Sumner, who currently holds it, was appointed following the resignation of now-state Sen. Rob Yundt last fall. Borough law requires seats filled by appointment to come up for election the following year.
The seats for Districts 1 and 2 are up for new one-year terms under an election law update designed to match all Mat-Su Assembly and mayoral elections with statewide and national races, which see higher voter turnout.
The update, which the Assembly approved in early 2024, also included a one-time, single-year term for Districts 1 and 2 to align future terms for those seats with the even-year election cycle.
The new rule also allows an Assembly member to remain in their seat until the next even-year election following an out-of-district move within the borough. Borough law otherwise prohibits Assembly members and the borough mayor from serving more than two terms.
The changes do not affect school board terms, which are set by state law.
-- Contact Amy Bushatz at contact@matsusentinel.com