Seafood industry works to encourage Alaska fishermen to vote

By Anna Laffrey

For the Wrangell Sentinel

A coalition of Alaska commercial seafood industry organizations is giving fishermen and processors tools to boost voter turnout in the governor’s race.

The nonpartisan Dock the Vote task force is educating fishermen on absentee and early voting, and encouraging each Alaska resident worker to cast a ballot in the Nov. 3 general election.

The task force launched ahead of the Aug. 18 primary. Some 60 Alaska fisheries organizations dedicated financial or logistical support to the fisherman-led get-out-the-vote effort, Julie Decker, of Wrangell, said in a recent call with the Sentinel. 

“It was a giant cooperation among the seafood industry, which is frankly a hard thing to do,” said Decker, a longtime fisherman who’s now director of the Pacific Seafood Processors Association.

Decker said statewide fishery organizations pulled together on the grassroots Dock the Vote task force because “everyone recognizes the importance of this gubernatorial election to the seafood industry.” 

The governor plays a key role in state and federal fisheries management by appointing members to the Alaska Board of Fisheries, which sets state regulations; choosing the commissioner of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, who leads the department; and nominating candidates to the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, which manages fisheries in federal waters.

Darren Platt, of Kodiak, said the idea for Dock the Vote came about at a Kodiak Seiners Association meeting in late April, where fishermen talked about the barriers to voting in the gubernatorial primary.

“There was immediate enthusiasm,” Platt said. He explained that voting in the August primary elections is particularly difficult for fishermen working the peak of the salmon season.

Platt said Dock the Vote is most engaged with the governor’s race because “we want to make sure that (the governor’s) appointments are made with regard to our industry, that we get people who are focused on science, focused on stability.”

“We have a lot of instability in our industry, and a lot of that’s driven by politics and it’s driving people out of business, and it’s harming communities,” Platt said. “In general in the past, fishermen have remained sort of on the sidelines politically, and that’s something we can’t afford to do anymore.”

Platt told how he got rolling on Dock the Vote. “I called every representative seafood industry organization in the state.”

Statewide fisheries orgs were quick to support. Affiliates began meeting in the late spring, formed committees of volunteers to work on projects, and launched a public information campaign in June, he said.

The coalition’s work includes an informative website dockthevote.org, mailers delivered to thousands of Alaska fishermen and seafood workers, flyers, a social media campaign and person-to-person communications.

“Everyone worked together to make sure people weren’t intimidated by the (election) process, that they had knowledge of the process, that they knew of dates, and that people were hounding fishermen: ‘Make sure you get this accomplished,’” Decker said.

Matt Alward, the United Fishermen of Alaska president and a Kodiak salmon seiner, said he voted in the primary election this summer by requesting that an absentee ballot be mailed to his processor.

Alward said his processor handed him his absentee ballot at the dock; he filled it out and returned it to the processor to mail to the Division of Elections. 

“The key is using the networks our organizations already have to reach our fishermen,” Platt said.

“What binds us all together is just doing what we can to make sure seafood voices are heard in the election,” Decker said. 

While Dock the Vote does not endorse any candidates, four fishermen’s associations that support Dock the Vote (Kodiak Seiners Association, United Fishermen of Alaska, Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association and Cordova District Fishermen United) have publicly endorsed Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins for governor. 

No other fisheries organizations have made public announcements on candidate endorsements.

Early voting opened Oct. 19. To vote by mail, registered voters need to request an absentee ballot from the state Division of Elections by Oct. 24. 

• This article originally appeared in the Wrangell Sentinel.