Voting supervisor for much of rural Alaska quietly replaced ahead of Election Day

The election worker who oversees voting in communities across a large swath of rural Alaska quietly left his position the day before the Nov. 5 election, according to the state Division of Elections website.

Jeremiah “Miah” Angusuc was appointed earlier this year to the position, which oversees voting in a vast area stretching from the Aleutian Chain through Western and Northwest Alaska and up to the North Slope.

By Election Day, Angusuc was replaced by acting supervisor Monica Giang, according to the Division of Elections website.

He was replaced days after the Daily News reported that incorrect ballots were sent to several Southwest communities, resulting in at least 90 incorrect ballots cast.

Division of Elections Director Carol Beecher declined to answer questions about Angusuc’s departure and replacement. In an email, she said “the division does not discuss personnel matters.” She did not respond to an interview request. The division’s public relations manager position has been vacant for over a year. Beecher herself is relatively new to her position, having been selected by Republican Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom for the post early last year.

Overseeing elections is a complex task in the expansive and sparsely populated rural regions of Alaska. In recent years, the state has failed to make voting available to some rural voters on Election Day, has not fully counted ballots from rural precincts and has not provided language assistance for Alaska Native language speakers as required under federal law.

The division has struggled to keep filled the position of Region IV supervisor, which oversees most communities located off the Alaska road system. Challenges in these communities are unique: It is often difficult to recruit poll workers; getting ballots to and from the communities requires small planes and boats; and elections often require coordination with an intricate web of tribal, local and regional figures.

Archived versions of the Division of Elections website show that Shannon “Rena” Greene, who filled the supervisor role during the 2022 election, had departed the post as of June 2023. The position was filled later that summer by Brian Mishica. By January — less than six months after he was hired — Mishica had left the position and Angusuc was hired to replace him.

Michelle Sparck, who directs Get Out the Native Vote, a nonpartisan organization aimed at boosting turnout in predominantly Alaska Native communities, said that even before Angusuc was replaced, “firings and vacancies” had put rural communities at a disadvantage.

“We need a supervisor who is as much an advocate for the idiosyncrasies of conducting elections in an entirely roadless system, as they are there to operate elections in a roadless and culturally distinct region. The barriers are great enough as it is to suffer a lack of institutional knowledge and know-how in Region IV,” Sparck said in a written statement.