Tuesday, April 8, 2025

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Photo: Voters cast their ballots at Old Saint Joe’s in Nome on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (Ben Townsend / KNOM)

President Donald Trump recently issued an executive order to reshape U.S. elections.

The order, among things, mandates absentee and mail-in ballots to be received by Election Day.

It also requires proof of citizenship for registering to vote in federal elections.

There’s some concern that the changes might disenfranchise voters in rural Alaska Native communities.

Alaska Desk reporter Alena Naiden from our flagship station KNBA has more.

Denise Louisaac is a poll worker in Dillingham who oversaw early absentee voting there for the last two presidential elections.

In 2020, she says it took 10 days after Election Day for the last batch of early voting ballots to get from Dillingham to Anchorage and from Anchorage to the election office in Nome.

She says the new federal voting timeline would be tight for Dillingham.

“It will definitely disenfranchise smaller rural communities.”

Jackie Arnaciar Boyer works for Rural and Indigenous Outreach Program. She says the new regulations might lead to a drop-in voter turnout for Alaska Native residents.

“I think it’d be pretty devastating to rural vote.”

In Alaska, mailed ballots can be received within 10 days after Election Day.

The timeline is helpful because hundreds of communities – predominantly Alaska Native – are accessible only by air.

Storms can prevent planes from coming in and out of the villages for days or weeks, and ballots often arrive late.

Roy Agloinga is the president of the First Alaskans Institute.

“It’s just not fair, right? I mean, to exclude an entire population because of where they live in the country, and to make it difficult for them to participate in this really important process.”

The executive order also mandates people to show proof of their citizenship to register to vote in federal elections.

Agloinga says that many Native Alaskans use tribal IDs because there’s nowhere in their village to get a passport or state ID.

While the state division of elections does not track how many residents use tribal IDs to register to vote, Agloinga says even a small number matters.

“Any number of voters that you miss in a community makes a big difference.”

Alaska Division of Elections spokesperson Stephen Kirch said in an email that the division is reviewing the new executive order and will work with the state Department of Law on any potential changes to policies.

Kirch said that, at this time, division staff don’t know if there will be any impact in Alaska.

On Monday, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed a resolution commemorating the 50^th anniversary of the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act.

The act, signed into law in 1975, reshaped federal Indian policy – promoting tribal self-determination through tribal involvement and oversight of programs and services administered to tribes on behalf of the federal government.

The bipartisan resolution was led by U.S. Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), chair of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, and vice chair Brian Schatz (D-HI).

In a statement, Sen. Murkowski said of the law that tribes have raised the quality of life of their people.

Tribal leaders testified last week, during a House Committee on Natural Resources field hearing, about opportunities the law has brought tribes, and successes in Indian Country – including in areas of economic development, health care, and transportation.

Also on Monday, Sen. Schatz released a statement on offers made by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to senior leaders across the agency to transfer to jobs in remote areas at the Indian Health Service (IHS), as part of HHS restructuring.

Schatz calls the action disrespectful.

He says the IHS should instead be strengthened to meet the needs of its patients, and that tribes need to be involved in consultation.

During his confirmation hearing, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he planned to elevate Indian health.

Meanwhile, Sec. Kennedy is meeting with tribal leaders this week in the Southwest.

According to the HHS, Kennedy is taking part in a fireside chat with tribal leaders in Arizona, and will take a one-hour hike with Navajo leaders.

 

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