Vote Like Our Elders

It Takes a Village to Make an Election Happen

Storyknife, September/October 2024 edition

Voters in the Calista Region used to be legendary voters, and the Alaska Native vote meant all the difference in very tight statewide races.

Those who are now our Elders knew our right to vote was hard won in their lifetime, and that voting mattered. In 1982, we voted at near village population levels. For example, of the 204 voters in Akiachak, 193 voted that year—that’s nearly 19 of every 20 people voting. In Atmautluak, only three people didn’t vote, and 131 people gave them a high of a 98 percent turnout rate. Fifty-five out of 63 voted in Nightmute, giving them a rate of 89 percent.

In the 2022 mid-term election, these three villages had a turnout rate of only 2 or 3 in every 10 people voting. We have dropped an average 50 points in voter turnout since the 1980s.

The Bethel region is in parts of House District 37, House District 38, House District 39, and House District 40. Our Senate Districts are broken up between T and S in the Arctic and Southwestern regions. We make up Region IV of the Division of Elections with 107 precincts. We have nearly 42,000 registered voters, and only 13,971 people voted in the 2022 midterm elections.

In 2022, 13 villages managed to pull off in-person voting but their ballots weren’t fully counted in the primary or the midterms. That could have been a problem with the systems we depend on for voting, like the Division of Elections, the post office, or air carriers. Some of it could be because voters don’t know enough about elections, don’t care, or don’t want to get involved.

It takes a village to make elections happen, and our local leaders, paid election work volunteers, and voters need to be loud and proud about the upcoming elections.

My organization, Get Out the Native Vote, would like to know why 27,941 people did not vote with the opportunities we have in the last statewide elections. We challenge our community to vote like we have and can do again.

Vote like our Elders, and we can change governance in Alaska to share and replicate our successes, meet our needs, reflect our values, our culture, and utilize our good stewardship in all matters of our lives. Voting needs to add up to make a difference, and it takes more than you and I voting. It takes a village.

This presidential year, and for the ones to come, let’s vote like our Elders, vote for our future generations, and get the more representative government we deserve.