Voting stations in Wales and Kaktovik never opened for the primary on Tuesday, according to the Alaska Division of Elections director.
“Despite trying multiple ways to contact the poll workers, the individuals we had hired for those communities were unresponsive today,” Director Carol Beecher said in a written response to questions.
Voting in Anaktuvuk Pass also didn’t open for most of the day. But Beecher said in an email at 7:42 p.m. — 18 minutes before polls closed — that the division was able to reach Anaktuvuk Pass Mayor Lillian Stone and officials in the town opened polls.
“As long as people are lined up by 8pm they will be able to vote,” Beecher wrote. “We are very thankful for Mayor Stone for stepping in to make sure her residents have the opportunity to vote in person.”
Beecher said in an earlier email less than an hour before polls were scheduled to close at 8 p.m. that people in those communities who are interested in voting can contact the division.
In addition to the three precincts that didn’t open, others — including Marshall, Shaktoolik and Diomede — opened roughly three hours late, around 10 a.m., Beecher said.
Voting in Kobuk opened on Tuesday morning but closed in the afternoon due to flooding, Beecher said.
“The division hired election workers well before election day and provided them all with materials and training, but sometimes people get sick or quit on short notice and we must rely on the community to assist in making sure a precinct opens on election day,” she said.
Similar problems have occurred in the past. In the 2022 primary election, polling stations in two rural Alaska communities failed to open because workers failed to turn up.
The start of early voting was delayed in several rural communities earlier this month due to ballots being delayed in the mail. In 14 communities, ballots hadn’t arrived two days after the scheduled Aug. 5 start of early voting.
In 2022, civil rights groups sued over ballots rejected in the state’s mail-in primary, noting that the rejection rate was higher in areas where the Alaska Native share of the population was higher. That case is ongoing.
In addition, there were problems with votes from some rural votes being counted in both the primary and general elections in 2022. Votes from six villages, totaling 259 ballots, were only partially counted because they didn’t arrive before the state certified the results. And in the 2022 primary, which was also the U.S. House special election, votes from seven villages weren’t counted because they didn’t arrive in time.
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