Three Alaska Native groups demand answers on rural election staffing before Tuesday's primary

Three Alaska Native organizations said Monday that the Alaska Division of Elections must publicly account for unfilled rural election-worker positions before polls open Tuesday, and pay workers who have waited months for per diem after required training.

The Alaska Federation of Natives, Cook Inlet Tribal Council and First Alaskans Institute, partners in Get Out the Native Vote, issued the joint statement from Anchorage a day before the Aug. 18 primary. Their eight demands call for an accounting of vacancies by region and precinct, a plan to fill each one before Tuesday, contingency plans for precincts left understaffed, payment of overdue per diem, and direct word to workers about it. The groups also want confirmed language and voter assistance, a public explanation of how shortages will be handled without compromising integrity, accessibility or security, and assurance that advertised early-vote sites keep published hours. Many rural communities are reachable only by air or water, the groups say, and local residents usually have the language skills and relationships needed to staff a polling place.

The statement rests on one dated claim. The Division's Region IV office in Nome, which serves Northern, Western and Southwest Alaska and the Aleutian Chain, was not open at the advertised 10 a.m. start for early voting on Saturday, Aug. 15, the groups say, citing the Division's own 2026 primary information. Those hours could not be confirmed on the Division's public website, which lists no early vote locations or hours, and the record does not show why the office was closed or whether it opened later that day.

"Rural Alaskans should never have to question whether their polling place will be properly staffed or whether the people who step forward to serve their communities will be treated fairly," AFN President Ben Mallott said. Dana Diehl, Cook Inlet Tribal Council's vice president of strategy and development, said, "This is not simply a matter of election administration — it is a matter of self-determination and community health."

The concern is not hypothetical: in 2024, polling places in Wales and Kaktovik never opened on primary day when the workers hired for them did not arrive, and other rural precincts opened late or closed early. Division Director Carol Beecher said at the time that the agency worked to find replacement workers for the two villages, though neither ultimately opened. Get Out the Native Vote's director, Michelle Sparck, has acknowledged that some rural disruptions stem from weather and geography that "can't be helped," while arguing that others "fall through the cracks" and can be prevented with better preparation. AFN has backed legislation to create a state-employed rural community liaison, citing rural absentee-ballot rejection rates near 14 percent in the 2022 special primary.

Nothing in the record shows the Division has answered the groups' demands, given a vacancy count, or said whether any precinct will be unstaffed on Tuesday. Polls open at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m.