Minor voting issues anywhere in the country can make headlines, but maybe not in Alaska. During the state’s May primary, Juneau statehouse reporter Becky Bohrer learned two polling places in remote Native villages didn’t open, and one opened for just an hour.
Bohrer found that Indigenous voters in isolated villages are routinely disenfranchised. And this year, the first Alaska Native congresswoman in history was in a tight race for re-election.
With support from a Democracy Team grant and Washington, D.C. editors, Anchorage hybrid reporter Mark Thiessen began the difficult work of gaining the trust of one such community. Tribal leaders in Kaktovik — a village on an island in the Arctic Ocean — told Thiessen it would be pointless to come because everyone was out whale hunting. But after weeks of outreach, the mayor told Thiessen the hunters were back, and he and Seattle-based photographer Lindsey Wasson could visit.
Thiessen and Wasson worked for four days in frigid temperatures and whiteout conditions and downloaded images, video and text feeds nightly to Eugene Johnson and Manuel Valdes in Seattle. Bohrer fact-checked and filled in the reporting as Johnson worked.
The resulting package, with gorgeous photos, powerful reporting and an authoritative AP Explains video featuring Thiessen in swirling snow, illuminated a forgotten piece of the American electorate when every vote matters more than ever before.
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