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Alaska elections officials say most rural early voting sites flagged by lawsuits opened Monday
Two lawsuits were filed against the Alaska Division of Elections over the failure to open early and absentee-in-person voting locations in 18 rural communities. Officials say 13 sites were open Monday
By Corinne Smith
Alaska Beacon
Alaska elections officials told a state Superior Court judge on Sunday that 13 of the 18 rural early and absentee-in-person voting locations that were flagged in lawsuits filed late last week for failing to open as scheduled would be open on Monday — one day before Election Day.
The remaining five communities were not able to confirm early voting sites, officials said. And at least three more early voting locations were not open in Western Alaska’s House District 38 on Monday, according to state Rep. Nellie Jimmie, D-Toksook Bay, who joined one of the lawsuits.
Jimmie is among several state legislators and the Alaska Democratic Party who filed a lawsuit against the Alaska Division of Elections on Friday over rural early voting sites failing to open early. Sites in 18 rural communities from St. Lawrence Island to the Copper River basin did not open as scheduled and failed to notify voters, according to the filing.
The 18 communities named in the lawsuit are Alakanuk, Chignik Bay, Chistochina, Ekwok, Gambell, Goodnews Bay, Holy Cross, Huslia, Kongiganak, Manokotak, Mountain Village, Nanwalek, Napaskiak, Newhalen, Pedro Bay, Pilot Station, Quinhagak and Toksook Bay.
On Sunday, attorneys for the state responded in court filings confirming 13 of those were “equipped, prepared and planning to open as scheduled” for voting on Monday, Nov. 2.
Those they said would be open include Chistochina, Ekwok, Gambell, Huslia, Manokotak, Mountain Village, Nanwalek, Pedro Bay, Pilot Station, Quinhagak and Toksook Bay.
Officials said they contacted the remaining five locations — in Alakanuk, Chignik Bay, Goodnews Bay, Holy Cross and Kongiganak — and were not able to confirm staffing for early voting at those locations as of Sunday.
Attorneys for the division argued in court filings the state has done “everything practical” to ensure early and absentee-in-person voting is available in the affected communities. They said residents still had the opportunity to vote on Election Day. They said absentee-in-person voting is not required by law, and “the division nor the court can force a location to open.”
A court hearing on the lawsuit was canceled Monday, as the parties had negotiated and “had found solutions for the remaining sites,” according to an order by Superior Court Judge Thomas Matthews.
Staff with Jimmie’s office reported that early and absentee-in-person voting did not open in Akiak, Napaskiak and Kwigillingok on Monday, even though the state’s elections website said they were open. Additionally, Tuluksak was open by appointment, despite being listed as closed, Jimmie said.
The Alaska Beacon was not able to independently verify the open voting locations or where polling places remained closed on Monday.
A spokesperson for the division did not respond to questions about the discrepancies in the division’s listed polling locations and hours on Monday.
As of 5 p.m. Monday, the division’s website lists two open voting sites in Chignik. The site did not list a voting location in Alakanuk, and voting sites at Goodnews Bay and Kongiginak were listed under temporary closure. A Holy Cross site was listed as open for just two hours.
Early and absentee in-person voting in Mertarvik, Tuluksak, Tuntuntuliak and Tununak were listed as temporarily closed on the website on Monday.
Alaska Democratic Party Chair Jenny-Marie Stryker confirmed Monday the party had agreed to cancel the court hearing as they were “working with the division” ahead of Election Day.
When asked about the discrepancies in early voting locations hours on Monday afternoon, Stryker acknowledged both parties were struggling to verify where absentee-in-person voting was available.
“We’re confident the Division of Elections is working hard to address these challenges — but the fact that the parties in this litigation are scrambling at the 11th hour to recruit and certify absentee voting officials speaks to how far the Division still has to go,” she said.
“When voters are receiving conflicting or inaccurate information about which locations are open and accessible, it’s clear we have reason to remain concerned,” she said. “We are far from satisfied and will continue working to ensure rural Alaskans have the access to vote that they deserve.”
Progressive groups challenge state over early voting location closures
The lawsuit filed by the Alaska Democratic Party and lawmakers names Lt. Governor Nancy Dahlstrom and division director Carol Beecher in their capacity as administrators of the state’s elections as defendants.
The 18 affected communities named are predominantly Alaska Native, and all but one are only accessible by boat or plane. Early voting began Oct. 19, and in the days following the early or absentee-in-person voting sites did not open — some voters who traveled far distances including by boat and plane, were turned away, according to the lawsuit.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs asked the court to require that the division restore and maintain absentee-in-person voting in those communities, provide a site-by-site report and publish accurate information for voters to cast their ballots in the affected communities. They asked the court to expedite a decision as voting is underway and continues through Election Day at 8 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 3.
The lawsuit cites similar problems in 2022, 2024 and this year’s August primary elections, where several early voting sites opened late or not at all due to staffing shortages. In August, Nunapitchuk voters reportedly had only three hours to vote on election day. Additionally, 75 absentee-in-person ballots were disqualified because they failed to reach the division’s regional office in time to be counted in time.
Rural state representatives are joining the lawsuit including Jimmie, House Speaker Rep. Bryce Edgmon, I-Dillingham and Rep. Robyn Frier, D-Utgiavik. All are running for election.
“Year after year, the Division has failed to open polling places in rural Alaska, making it harder to vote here than anywhere else in the state,” Jimmie said, in a joint email statement ahead of filing the lawsuit on Thursday.
“If I was home in Toksook currently and not in Bethel, I would not be able to vote early,” she said. “The right to vote must be meaningful in practice, and recurring disruptions require more than assurances that individual problems will be addressed.”
In the affected communities, the lawsuit cites some local officials running the absentee-in-person polling places who reported not receiving the necessary ballot materials from the division. Some said they were not given proper training on how to administer the voting locations.
The lawsuit also cites the Alaska Democratic Party conducting its own calls to independently verify the status of early and absentee-in-person voting locations. From Oct. 26 to Oct. 29, callers conducted over 600 status checks, an average of 160 sites per day. The party said callers were not able to reach anyone in over 150 calls, and in over 80 instances sites were closed, temporarily closed or operating on changed hours. In over 60 instances, a site’s reported closing time did not match the hours listed on the division’s website.
The lawsuit argues elections officials are violating their legal duties to administer elections — and maybe further violating requirements for language assistance under a federal consent decree. The parties argue that failing to open early and absentee-in-person sites may deprive voters of in-person language assistance they are entitled to in Yup’ik speaking regions, such as the Dillingham and Kusilvak census areas.
Another lawsuit filed against the division on Thursday by a Washington D.C. based political non-profit, Midnight Sun Independence Fund, argues the failure to open early voting sites is a violation of Alaskans’ constitutional rights. It also asks for the court to require the division to open and operate all early and absentee-in-person voting locations as scheduled. On Monday, the parties reached a resolution and the case was dropped, according to court filings.
Division of Elections mounts defense in court
Attorneys for the division said in court filings that the state strives to administer as many absentee-in-person sites as possible. They said the division signs agreements with absentee voting officials, and “they tell the Division what times and locations they will be available for voting.”
They argue the division’s website states that “information is subject to change,” and said the division makes updates when notified.
They argued against a court intervention, saying the division had taken all practical steps to open absentee-in-person voting sites, and “extreme and practically impossible steps” like flying division employees and supplies out to villages would not reach those locations before the end of the day Monday. They said diverting division staff and resources to five communities would “irreparably harm” the division.
Attorneys for the division argue election officials have fulfilled their duties under the law, and there is no requirement to “supply an official” at an absentee-in-person voting site. They said there is no constitutional right to vote absentee-in-person, and voters have other opportunities to cast a ballot, either by-mail or in-person on Election Day.
Lawmakers called for immediate corrective action as early voting began
Both lawsuits cite a letter from Anchorage Democrat Bill Wielechowski sent on Oct. 23, four days after early voting began, to the Division of Elections notifying officials that the 18 rural absentee-in-person voting locations were not open as advertised, which was likely a violation of state and federal election law.
On Oct. 26, Beecher responded to Wielechowski, saying that those communities were among 109 absentee-in-person voting sites that confirmed with the division in April, and the division had sent out ballot materials in early October. Beecher said the division had followed up with the 18 communities but did not say which had opened and which remained closed.
“Of the eighteen sites listed in your letter, three have now declined to open, twelve have confirmed they are open, and we are working to hear from the remaining three locations,” she said. “Locations are free to change or extend their hours, up to the closing of the polls, to provide additional opportunities to vote.”
On Oct. 28, Jimmie also sent a letter to Beecher and Dahlstrom calling for answers for the early and absentee voting site closures and an “immediate statewide corrective action plan.”
She asked the division for information on what is being done to restore voting services, how it will notify voters and what options will be made available whose access to voting has been disrupted or delayed.
Currently, state law allows only ballots cast before 8 p.m. Nov. 3 to be counted.
Jimmie reported that on Oct 27, more than a week after early voting began, at least 17 communities did not have open polling sites, including at least seven communities in her district — Mertarvik, Kongiganak, Tununak, Tuluksak, Toksook Bay, Nunapitchuk and Akiak.
The next day, October 28, she reported at least 14 statewide were not open, including six or more in her district — Napaskiak, Tuntutuliak, Toksook Bay, Tuluksak, Tununak and Chevak. “Several more communities could not be reached,” she wrote.
“Voters in my district are showing up to vote at the time and place the state told them to, and finding a locked door,” Jimmie said in a statement announcing the letter. “In communities like mine, where the next option is a plane, boat, or snow machine ride away, this tells voters that their voice is not valued.”
Jimmie also said she raised similar problems with the division after the August primary election, around polling sites opening late and ballots from Nunapatchuk not reaching Bethel in time to be counted. “My questions about voter recourse, documentation of affected turnout, and corrective measures were not adequately answered,” she wrote.
Part of the response she did receive was election officials asking Jimmie to help recruit poll workers in her district, a request she said was inappropriate because she is running for re-election.
House Speaker Rep. Bryce Edgmon noted in a joint statement Thursday that the Legislature passed a bipartisan elections reform package that aimed to address some of the ongoing issues for rural voters. That included creating a rural liaison in the division to help with staffing and opening rural polling sites. Gov. Mike Dunleavy vetoed the bill, and the Legislature declined to override the veto by two votes.
“Making voting accessible in a state as vast, rural and remote as Alaska is the state’s responsibility,” Edgmon said. “The Legislature upheld our end of the deal in passing a bipartisan bill that would have improved access, strengthened transparency, and maintained the integrity of our elections. Governor Dunleavy vetoed that bill.”
• Corinne Smith started reporting in Alaska in 2020, serving as a radio reporter for several local stations across the state including in Petersburg, Haines, Homer and Dillingham. She spent two summers covering the Bristol Bay fishing season. Originally from Oakland, California, she got her start as a reporter, then morning show producer, at KPFA Radio in Berkeley. Alaska Beacon is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
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