The Alaska Division of Elections said that two precincts in rural Alaska failed to open for in-person voting on primary election day.
Carol Beecher, director of the Division of Elections, said polling places in Wales and Kaktovik were unable to open on Tuesday. Anaktuvuk Pass opened to voting around 7:30 p.m. — half an hour before voting ended at 8 p.m.
Beecher said Tuesday afternoon that a poll worker was being flown to Kaktovik to open the precinct. The division had worked to find replacement election workers to open the precinct in Wales, she added. But both efforts failed to see either precinct open for voting on Tuesday.
“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,” Beecher said.
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According to 2020 U.S. census data, 425 people lived in Anaktuvuk Pass, a village on the North Slope; 283 people lived in Kaktovik, a village on Barter Island. Wales, the most westerly community on the North American mainland, located north of Nome, had a population of 168.
Forty-three Kaktovik residents voted in the 2022 Alaska primary, along with 280 residents of Anaktuvuk Pass and 10 people from Wales.
According to Beecher, 399 of 402 Alaska precincts were open and operating by Tuesday afternoon for the primary election. Most precincts opened as planned at 7 a.m. Tuesday, but several precincts in Marshall, Shaktoolik and Diomede City opened closer to 10 a.m., Beecher said.
Voting was also delayed at White Mountain, a village of around 185 people situated on the Niukluk River in the Nome Census Area. By 2 p.m., Beecher said the White Mountain polling location had not yet opened. By 4:30 p.m., it had opened to voters, she added.
A Kobuk precinct was open for voting Tuesday morning, but it had closed in the afternoon due to flooding in Western Alaska from a Bering Sea storm, Beecher said.
In 2022, precincts in Tununak and Atmautluak did not open on election day for that year’s primary and special congressional election.