The Anchorage Election Commission certified Monday that a recount of the District 4 Assembly race produced identical results to the original count, confirming Janice Park's 26-vote victory over Dave Donley.

The recount, required by city law when the margin is less than 0.5 percent, reviewed all ballots cast in the April 7, 2026 election. Park received 5,030 votes, Donley 5,004, and Kim Winston 397. The margin between Park and Donley remained exactly 26 votes in both counts. The certification came April 28, 2026, following a recount process that began April 25 after the narrow margin triggered the automatic review.

Anchorage city law requires an automatic recount when the victory margin falls below 0.5 percent of votes cast. Park's lead of 0.23 percent triggered the process. The commission certified the recount results and will report them to the Assembly, which is scheduled to swear in Park at its Tuesday meeting.

Election officials readjudicated approximately 140 to 150 ballots during the Friday recount, reviewing ambiguous marks, blank ballots, overvotes, and write-ins. Each campaign provided two observers who sat behind election workers during the process.

"We looked at about 140, 150 ballots, and there were zero challenges," an election official said. "827 batches of ballots were reviewed, 66,848 ballots. And so the results came out exactly the same: 5,004 votes for Dave Donley, 397 for Kim Winston, and 5,030 for Janice Park."

Election officials provided challenge forms, pens, and clipboards to the observers and explained how to file challenges by identifying batch numbers. About 20 members of the public observed the recount from the public gallery. No challenges were filed.

The commission voted unanimously to accept the recount results and to certify that the process complied with provisions of law and that no illegal election practices occurred that would change the outcome.

One commissioner said the identical results from two separate counts validated the accuracy of Anchorage's election system. He recalled presiding over a state election that ended in a tie after recounts and court challenges, ultimately decided by a coin flip.

"What's so important to me is even more important than the outcome from the election, which is very important to me, is election integrity, is to ensure that we are following the rules and doing that," the commissioner said. "And from what I observed, we have that and we have competency along with it."

Another official said the recount functioned as a brand new election, with officials examining each ballot for the first time in the recount process.

"To have the same tabulation come out in the brand new election than it did in the original election is something to be very happy about," the official said. "There were no changes. No one raised their hand and challenged anything because it was done right the first time, and we have proven the accuracy of the method that we are using."