Assembly members Heather Lende, Tresham Gregg and Tom Morphet retained their seats on the assembly, according to unofficial results from Tuesday's special recall election.

More than 1,050 people, 47 percent of registered voters, cast their ballots in the special election, signaling the end of a recall effort that started in April.

Don Turner Jr. initiated the recall effort. He claimed the assembly members violated Alaska's Open Meetings Act and that Lende and Morphet misused their official position for personal gain.

Turner and Margaret Friedenauer, treasurer of the political action committee "Haines Voters Against the Recall," issued a joint statement Wednesday afternoon. "We were on different sides of this issue. We may not agree but we still respect each other and our opinions. We hope all of us can do the same as we move on."

According to the initial results, 58 percent of voters chose not to recall Gregg and Morphet and 61 percent of voters chose not to recall Lende.

The voter turnout for the special election was higher than the past two general elections.

Lende said it feels like weight has been lifted off her shoulders. Moving forward, Lende said she'll do what's best for the entire community, including "the people who feel they're not being heard."

"At the same time you have to honor the wishes of the majority and I think I'll do that as well," Lende said. "This whole thing was a lesson in humility and now it's going to be a lesson in forgiveness. How can we move forward and forgive each other? We'll see."

George Campbell, a former borough assembly member, said the roughly 40 percent of recall support showed the effort was not a "small minority of bullies." Going forward, he said he hopes to hear assembly members discuss and consider dissenting views publicly, even if they vote a different way. He said those both for and against the recall need to behave with more maturity.

"Everyone in the community needs to put their big boy pants on and stop being offended by absolutely everything and be willing to listen to other points of view and try to work together to unify," Campbell said.

In a written statement, Turner said he was disappointed with the results of the election and expressed a frustration that the majority of voters "must not care about borough codes or rules." He also said "tomorrow is a new day," and hoped "we can all work together for the betterment of the Haines borough."

Gregg was home painting a carving when he heard the election results broadcast on KHNS. He said he believes Haines has the most "considerate assembly we've had in many years."

"I'm thankful we're going to continue with that same assembly and I look forward to improving our decision-making and bringing our community forward in a positive way," Gregg said.

The assembly's makeup might not change too drastically if the current candidate filings for this fall's election stay the same.

Three seats are up for grabs on the Haines Borough Assembly during this October's election plus the Mayor's three-year term. Two assembly seats have three-year terms and one assembly seat is a one-year term.

As of Wednesday afternoon, only two community members, Sean Maidy and Diana Lapham, have declared their candidacy.

Mayor Jan Hill is running uncontested.

Four seats are up for election on the Haines Borough school board and one individual, Brian Clay, has declared candidacy.

Maidy and assembly member Stephanie Scott were appointed after Margaret Friedenauer and Mike Case resigned from the assembly.

Scott has said she does not plan to run for election this fall.

Morphet said he's discouraged by the lack of interest in open seats and questioned whether or not the recall effort had something to do with it.

"It seems like as a society or as a town we can only express ourselves in terms of what we don't want," Morphet said. "We need people who can articulate a positive future for this town and who are unafraid to make the right decision. We need independent, thoughtful candidates who aren't beholden to a certain perspective or to narrow interests within the community."

Morphet said he encourages those who voted to recall him to come talk to him so he can explain the decisions that he's made as an assembly member.

He also said, quoting Alaska Municipal League executive director Kathie Wasserman who spoke during a Wednesday AML meeting in Haines, "You don't get anything done in politics if you're not willing to be slapped around."

The deadline to file for candidacy is at 5 p.m. Monday, Aug. 21. The election is scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 3.