Alaska House Judiciary Committee Hearing on Alaska DOC Holding ICE Detainees

Overview

Purpose of meeting:  Status of Immigration Detainees in custody of Department of Corrections through a contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement By Department of Corrections;  Witnesses:  Nicolas Olano,  Immigration Attorney, Nations Law Group; Cindy Woods, Alaska Civil Liberties Union; Civil Division, Department of Law; Sean Quirk, Kellogg Hansen Judiciary Committee members present:  Andrew Gray, chair; Genevieve Mina; Ted Eischeid  Other legislators who later sat with the panel and asked questions:  Donna Mears: Ky Holland, Andy Josephson Commissioner of Correction (DOC), Jen Winkelman, testifying by video.   You can listen to a recording of the meeting here. The bulk of the meeting was the questioning of Department of Corrections Commissioner Jen Winkelman.  Commissioner Winkelman sounded quite forthcoming about what she knew and promised to follow up on issues that came up that were new to her.   Though as the questioning went along, it appeared that there were a number of things that others brought up that she hadn't heard about.  The ICE detainees have only been at the Anchorage Correctional Complex (ACC) for ten days and she acknowledged that there has been a learning process, particularly dealing with rules and procedures governing ICE detainees.   Concern was voiced that ICE detainees are NOT criminals and that it is inappropriate for them to be housed in a facility built for criminals.   One person stated that Alaska was the only state housing ICE detainees in a state facility.  One reason, the Commissioner noted, was that Alaska, despite a large federal presence, has no federal prisons.   Another key point was that Alaska has had a contract with the federal government since 2013 to house federal prisoners, usually until they can be shipped to another prison.  Alaska has temporarily housed ICE detainees, but not for more than 72 hours.  And that there was no new contract for these new detainees from out of state. The ICE agent for Alaska is also the ICE agent for the prison in Tacoma where this new group came from.   Attorneys for ICE detainees in Alaska testified that many of the rules for ICE detainees have been violated.   Attorney Quirk, testifying from Washington, DC said neither he nor his client got advance notice of the transfer.  In fact Quirk got no notice at all and attempts to contact his client in Tacoma led to his learning that he was no longer there.  Nor did anyone say where he'd gone.  Quirk thought he was deported possibly.   And, also against regulations, his client's property was not given to him when he was transferred, including his passport, all his legal documentation including his contact information for his attorney.   Toward the end, someone asked about a rumor that ICE was preparing a detention center in Adak.  The Commissioner said she'd only heard about it on social media.     The National Detention Standards for Non-Dedicated Facilities (Revised 2019) were mentioned often and quoted from a number of times.  These are referenced occasionally as "the Trump guidelines."

The overview lists some of the highlights.  Below is my very rough transcript of the meeting. There's a lot missing, but it gives a sense of what was discussed.  I was a couple of minutes late (I thought it was 1:30pm and when I double checked, I had to hustle.)  The room was full and I had to sit on the floor.  The video screen only faced the panel.  Though I moved up to get a (bad) photo of one of the witnesses. The meeting was civil, even cordial, though serious concerns were raised.

Reps. Mears, Eischeid, Gray, and Mina (l-r)

Q, Gray:  Type of contract we have between DOC and Federal government - unusual?  

A, Winkelman:  Statute allows the commissioner to contract with other states or US to take prisoners.  Regard to US, we have agreements since we took federal prisoners because there is no federal prison in Alaska.

Q:  Describe the contract?

A:  Current contract in place since 2013.  Effective until terminated in writing.  I'll make sure committee has copy.  

Q:  How will Alaska be reimbursed?

A:  A daily bed rate for individuals in our custody, daily rate we bill federal government.

Q:  This decision to bring these people made through your leadership?

A:  Because contract, we have a good working relationship.  June 4 local ICE agent contacted staff and asked how many could Anchorage safely house.  We calculated that.  Anchorage is the only facility that could house for more than 72 hours.  Other prisons in Alaska cannot go over 72 hours.  Two big asks:

1.  Names and ?? of those coming and 2.  medical information.  They delivered.  We do not normally know who is coming in from any agency.  So this was hugely helpful to know who was coming.  ICE and DOC remarkable teamwork.  We knew who was coming.  Expecting 59, but only 41 came.  Two were picked up the next day and then 2 more.  35 now.

Q:  Was theree any public notice?

A:  Not from DOC. 

Q:  ??

A:  Longstanding process.  No public process, given our authority and statures.  Checks and balance falls on Legislative audit?  

Rep Eischeid Q:  ICE approached DOC?  A: Yes  They asked how many could DOC house?  Was there an answer?

A:  We agreed on 59 when ICE asked.  Our leadership checked available beds, staffing, etc.  we agreed on 59.

Q:  Requested on medical conditions.. How were detainees selected?

A:  Great questions.  Need to ask ICE.

Q:  How many transferred to Alaska 

A:  ??????  72 hour limit

Q:  Did DOC have to move anyone out of Anchorage facility?

A:  No.  We did move them..  Due to regional ???  We could have housed the extras without movement.  We decided to move some, to relieve burden on staffing.  Nothing different from normal.  We get heads up from local officials and move people out for med and safety reasons?

Q:  Cost to Alaska from moving detainees from Washington state to here

A:  Not that I know of.   ...  Daily costs covered by payments, food, clothing, staff, indirect costs

Q, Mina:  ????

A:  Per diem rate is $223.70 across the board.

Mina:  What about medical costs?  Per diem cover that?

A:  Covers onsite medical costs, anything offsite handled through ICE

Mina:  Training for staff AC  for longer than 72 hours prisoners?

A:  This is not unusual.  over 72 hours, it happens.  Staff trained to deal with that.  

,,,,  Moved here because of severe overcrowding in Tacoma

Q:  Orientation for trainees and staff.  

A:  Phones, immediately given food on arrival.  Following days, arrange for translation services for those with limited English.  How to use digital law library.  Answer questions.  Effort to orient everyone as we do with others.  Difference is how many came in at once.

[My note:  This all sounds fine in the abstract, but how do you practically tell detainees with limited English (in various languages) about how to get translation services, and then how do they understand all the other instructions.  This all depends on the sensitivity of the people doing this, and based on later testimony, there were lots of problems that this glosses over, or that Winkelman didn't know about.]

Q:  Do all detainees have ICE detainee handbook?

A:  I don't know

Q:  ICE rules, page 20,  say they need them. 

Q, Eischeid:  What Fed standards apply to detainees?  Are you using Fed standards?

A:  We are using Alaska State standards, we aim to achieve any national gold standard.  That said, my reasoning saying it was a question for ICE, they had to approve our standards.  They checked our policies and walked around our facilities and determined we have met their standards.  

[I would say this answer is a "NO".  There are specific standards in the Handbook which apply to ICE detainees, most of whom are not criminals, and have specific rights as detainees seeking legal decisions about their rights to stay in the US.  These are quite different from what a prison would have for criminal inmates who have been sentenced by a court.]

Q:  Can attorneys meet with detainees?

A:  Yes.  Bumpy at first.  We have people protesting every day.  Need to check if visits authorized.  We are adding additional rules, work with ICE on who is approved to visit detainees.  We have attorneys, family, and others trying to meet with inmates.  I would say yes.  

Q:  Do you have standards about seeing an attorney within 24 hours.  

... A: We do.  we saw new people coming in and out

Grey interrupting:  "New rules, p. 166, should permit visits 7 days a week including holiday.  p. 168 able to meet with prospective attorneys... Attorneys here not that aware.  It seems should be pretty open access.

National Detention Standards p. 166

A:  I will state my understanding.  That is why initial days, staff thought they had to go through vetting process, told that by ICE agent, but shown invalid.

Eischeid:  Seems from outside looking in, seems that since detainees from ICE but it's a facility that doesn't usually deal with detainees.  Not good?

A:  We have custody of both criminal and non-criminal detainees.  Difference was how many came in at once.  That caused the bumps

Q:  Previously, you said you got 2-3 detainees before?

A:  Didn't give a number, but yes,

Mina:  ICE decides who is approved for meetings with detainees?

A:  Our first understanding, but some of those restrictions have been lifted.

Mina:  For just legal or members of the public?

A:  Yes. 

Mina:  Immigration hearings - can they attend in a timely manner.  What happens if hearing is out of state, but they are here.  

A:  Yes.  ICE are the gatekeepers.  Their court dates are not something we are aware of.  ICE schedules that.  Need to ask ICE. 

Mina:  Process for detainee wanting to communicate with their counsel

A:  They have access to phone system and help on how to use it.

Gray:  P. 171 guidance - detainees MUST be advised.  Allowed to meet in a private room - none of that mentions phone meetings.  [Guidance here refers to National Detention Standards mentioned above.] [I think he meant p. 168.  Page 171 is about consular (not counselor) visits.  

Mina:  What's the process...

A:  ICE determines when ready for release.  We do not handle that paper work

Mina:  A lot of articles on conditions.  Access to go outside, exercise, religious services

A:  One hour outside daily.  Day room for exercise, religious.  DOC chaplain.  Dietary preferences, need to request for things not available.  Dietary - any special diets DOC provides.  Many special diet

[My comment:  These may be the rules, but how they are carried out is another story.  The attorney testimony below offers examples of the rules not being adhered to.]

Eischeid:  ???

A:  Don't know.  Part 2 - nothing brought to me that has been an issue.

Eischeid:  Problems with family requests?

A:  Not to my knowledge, hasn't been long enough to really know.  I know about legal rep, and we worked through that.  Haven't been doing this long enough - nothing has risen to my attention.  Only ten days so far.  

[My note:  'nothing has risen to my attention' is probably accurate, but allows for lots of problems that she doesn't know about.]

Eischeid:  Under what conditions handcuffed?

A:  Only time when being transported, other than ???, handcuffed in front. 

Eischeid:  Any use of force?

A:  Incident in unit where verbal demonstration, aggressively, did not want to lock down, No one was gassed, moved to rooms for lock down.  

Gray:  I believe that was June 12 afternoon.  What are reasons for lockdown.  How long?

A:  Happen routinely multiple times a day, or emergencies.  The incident in question, don't know if routine or emergency.

Gray:  P.3 of Trump guidance.  Any lockdown reported to ICE.  Was that done?

A:  I'm going to say yes.  I know we do that regularly, but I don't know that specific one.

Gray:  I heard about that incident from many people.  One detainee asking for access to his property so he could get contact info for his counsel, and then everyone was pepper sprayed.

A:  No one was pepper sprayed.  

Gray:  Rules - medical officials check on health issues before

A:  I don't know

Gray:  We do know that at least one was on a respiratory and others get sick

Mina:  Mental health services provided?  Paid by?

A:  Yes, both medical and mental health.  Cost of care.  In person in their module multiple times a  day, explaining how to request information.  Fill out form, triaged by nursing.  

Mina:  Law libraries.  How to get access to Anchorage libraries?

A:  Law library is not available.  Get info, working with someone getting translated.  Any other info is available.

Mina:  Turnaround time reaching out to ACC and making it happen.

A:  Wed June 4 and ???

Mina:  Current contract ...?

A:  Tough questions,  how many can we safely house.  This was not unusual, except for the # in one day.  We had a heads up.

Gray:  From several sources, two lockdowns, one pretty lengthy.

A:  Not aware, but knew lockdown on No Kings Day.

Gray:  Not allowed to shower of change clothes after pepper spray.  Wasn't able to change underwear for three days.  Guidance says one day.

A:  First I've heard about this.  I will look into that.

Gray:  Thanks.  Hope you can stay on as we get other expert testimony.

Woods, ACLU attorney:  experience 8 years on Mexican border.  These individuals are not incarcerated from criminal offense, just immigration issues.  Protected from harm, medical and mental health care.  Brothers, partners, fathers.  Some have been granted .... but being held in punitive conditions.  3 people per cell with one open toilet.  Two showers per week.  No spare clothing at all.  No windows.  Out of cell are shackled.  Been on a lot of lockdown.  Deprived of personal belongings, including contact info.  Only 4 telephones only 2-3 available.  Only two free phone calls. No international calls.  No way to buy phone accounts, others have others do that.  Pepper spray, lasers, isolation.  Very concerned about well being.  Struggling with punitive setting and isolation.   Access to religious materials gone unanswered. 

Concerned ability to deal with legal needs.  No access to immigration case law or ways to copy documents.  I have heard personally.  Does not comply with standards

Gray:  how many have you met with?  5 personally

Other experiences:  Family detention centers have different standards, Legal trailer, attorneys on the ground, detainees able to walk to trailer.  Also experience elsewhere, didn't have to prove my legal id.

Gray:  Different here?

A:  Very different from Tacoma and elsewhere.  In Tacoma they have tablets in cells to call family, no handcuffs, more outside, no strip search after speaking to legal counsel 

Gray:  Commissioner, is that your understanding?

A:  I will find out.  They will follow any protocol criminal detainees follow.

Gray:  Woods says they do not have access to property?

A:  I know there was delay.  Property an issue at the beginning.  I believe resolved.

Eischeid:  Trump guidance says, Before trainees transferred all items returned to detainees.  

Mina: 

Woods:  Complicated legal issues.  Type of immigration, entry location, asylum,  Some detainees are legal residents and have durable legal status to be in US

Gray:  We'll go to next witness .. Nicholas Olano

Olano:  Immigration attorney.  14 years in Alaska f5 years before that

Gray:  What do you do with Alaskans picked up?

Olano:  If arrested by ICE ...???

Gray:  How often held in Alaska.  A:  Normally 72 hours.  ICE would want to move them out of Alaska as fast as possible.  

Olono:  Designed as criminal setting.

Gray:  Still getting people sent to Tacoma?

Olano:  ?????

Gray:  Your experience that Alaska detainee could put up bond?

Olano:  Yes

Gray:  Compare to Florida experi3ence

Olano:  Very different.  Florida designed for this.  These individuals used to system and not prepared to be in criminal center.  

Gray:  What risks?

Olano:  Couldn't say?

Gray:  Anything wrong in being in criminal setting?

Olano:  Being held in punitive setting, not what  would happen elsewhere. 

Gray:  Commissioner Winkelman, do you know if they are being shackled when meeting with attorneys?

A:  No, but know that there are different requirements for prisoners.

Gray:  Protocol for shackling when meeting with legal - they aren't criminals.

Mina:  Do you know if detainees had opportunity to be released on bond?

Olano:  Some were elegible in Tacoma.  

Gray:  Final attorney Sean Quirk  

Quirk:  Sean Quirk, Washington DC.  5 years in Navy.  Briefly talk about what has happened with my client who was transferred to Alaska from Tacoma without explanation to him or me or prior notice.  Tried to contact him in Tacoma.  This Monday finally received answer we could contact him.  Then they said he wasn't here, they didn't know.  Thought he was deported.  No one contacted us he was transferred.  Happy to answer questions

Learning a lot from testimony today.  Communications hard from the beginning, and got passed off to others.  Took a while to get 30 minute call Wednesday.  First contact since transferred.  Client said they took away all his papers.  He hadn't memorized my phone number so couldn't call me.

Gray:  Commissioner can you speak to different phone time rules.

A:  Rec time is one hour per day.  Will follow up on discrepancies.

Gray:  One hour a day outside five days a week.  Seems they are getting that.  Trouble contacting attorneys via phone.  Why?

A:  I know at the beginning of transfer there were problems.  This is the first time I'm hearing about it.  I will be following up.  

Gray:  p.160 of guidance - facilities shall not restrict # of calls to reps.

Mina:  Attempts to contact your client?

Sean Quirk:  Everyone we contacted told us to contact someone else.  Emails.  Found out he was in Anchorage on Monday and took til Wednesday.  Time difference and language makes it harder.  8-4 Alaska time difficult.  

Mina:  Also looking at p 160 of Trump standards.  This pertains to emergency calls, staff should help has fast as possible.  Mon-Wed seems longer than the 8 hour ideal.  Question for Mr. Quirk.  Facilities should help making confidential call, staff should help them make the call confidentially.  Your client get this?

Quirk:  Once we did confirmed no one in the room with him.  I don't know about process.  He has not contacted me since Wednesday.  

Mina:  Staff made it possible to contact attorneys?

DOC:  Yes, aware of and working on it.  Challenge in this situation.  From out of state, language barriers.  I'm working on.  

Gray:  Situation Mr. Quirk described not learning about client transfer for a week.  Common?

Alano:  common

Wood:  There is a requirement that ICE notify you.

Alano:  In my client's case notice did not happen.

Quirk:  ICE has to notify 24 hours in advance.  Didn't happen

Eischeid:  Describe the papers that were lost

Quirk:  All his documents, passport and docs to prove his asylum case, and what we sent to him, engagement letter, and others.  All gone with transfer.  As far as I know from Wed.  he has not received them.  

Gray:  Open Questions to public.

Rep Mears:  I have concerns with what is happening with ICE.  2 big areas:  1  Elsewhere in ICE facilities and here we have criminal incarceration facilities.  2.  Alaska is far away.  No contact with family, friends, and other local sources.  Contracts .... Opportunity to ask questions.  Hope hearings lead to changes.

Gray:  p. 163  "To maintain detainee morale and family relationships encourage family visits"  How are family from Lower 48 encouraged to come.

DOC:  I don't know.  Treating like any other criminal or civil detainee.  Extremely hard when folks are far away.

Gray:  Have any family or friends had visits    

Reps. Gray, Mina, Holland, and Josephson (l-r)

Josephson:  Why are we investing energy and time treating guidance as advisory, not compulsory.  We are only being refunded for out costs.  Why are we doing this at all.

DOC:  Fair questions.  Because of military presence and us not having a federal detention center, we will continue to be a federal partner, and one of those partners is ICE.  Don't usually stay in Alaska more than 72 days.  Same ICE agent in that area is same as for Alaska.  Asked if we could we safely house detainees for 30 days.  We said yes.  That's where we are at.

Josephson:  Asked if contract requires us to cooperate?  Admin could have decided not to do this?

DOC:  That's fair to say.  Longstanding contract in place and we were asked how many we could safely house?  If we had been full, it could have been a different answer

Josephson:  You said deployed and then said not used.  If pepper spray was used, not directly against detainees?

DOC:  Used on the ground, not directly on detainees.  

[my short break]

Gray:  Change in per diem price change, related to new ICE detainees?

DOC:  Coincidental - old contract ended May 31.

Gray:  Were they able to bring medications with them  Enough supply?

DOC:  Yes, Yes.  One of our big asks, before they arrived  - that we had medical abstract for each detainee and their medication.

Rep. Holland:  Is there a duty or procedure at DOC to protect the rights of people held in custody to be sure not moved in way to disrupt their proceedings

DOC:  That is something we do for all incarcerated.  But ICE is responsible for who is moved and when.

Mina:  Alaskan ??    ICE

DOC:  Currently undergoing recertification

Mina:  Timeline for recertification?

DOC:  You need to ask ICE

Mina:  We heard 30 minute limite on phone call.  Is that enough time for translation services or legal advice?

DOC:  Fair question and I'll follow up on that.  

Mina:  3 people to a cell normal?

DOC:  Thanks for the question,  when it came up I wanted to comment.  There is enough room in the module, there is enough - we asked if they want to move to another cell, they have banded together and so despite having room to move out of three in a cell and many have chosen not to.

Mina:  to attorneys, do you agree with that?

Wood:  I haven't heard that people choose to stay in a cell with three.

Gray:  repeated q

DOC:  I asked before this hearing and was reassured that was their decisions.  

[Of course we don't know what the conditions of moving were that caused the detainees to stay put?  Into cell with people who don't speak their language?  Other issues?]

Mina:  30 days - ??

DOC:  When ICE contacted us, they contacted ACC knowing we could hold longer than 72 hours, need to stay for up to 30 days.  So, beyond that, I don't know their plan going forward.

Mina:  No restriction, right now DOC just waits to see what will happen?  

DOC:  Short answer is yes, but we are in regular contact with ICE agent to be in the mod once per week.  He has made frequent visits to the facility.  The idea that we are in constant communication on when individuals are moving out.  Six have already moved out.

[No one has asked who this ICE agent is for Alaska and Tacoma]

Mina:  Other states have overflow?

DOC:  I'm not aware and have a good working relationship with the ICE agent and he overseas Alaska and Tacoma and contacted us.  Unusual request and one we could meet

Mina:  To attorneys:  are you aware of other states?

Woods:  Others have federal detention facilities.  To our knowledge, Alaska is only state where detainees in State facilities.

Gray:  Some negotiations that facility in Adak being considered.

DOC:  I have not in any knowledge in my professional capacity, though I read in news article or on social media heard about it.

Olano:  Anchorage is already very far away.  We are not El Salvador.  How to get people there, This will cost Alaskans money.  Bad idea.  

Woods:  Practice to get them to facilities where it's hard to access and potential expansion to Guantanamo.  I haven't heard of it but will take it seriously.  

Escheid:  Anything that prohibits state legislators touring the ACC and seeing the conditions?

DOC:  Nothing and I would encourage it and welcome it.  

Gray:  Not an easy hearing from Commissioner Winkelman and appreciate you being here and responding.  

DOC:  I appreciate the comments.  Hard questions and not easy.  Ultimately at the end of the day. I have a passion for this work. Often difficult.  Two types of authority.  Encourage everyone to reach out and if there are things, let us know.  I want a better DOC.  Kudos for my staff for how they have handled this.  Increased pressure surrounding social unrest surrounding this issue.  I have phenomenal staff and couldn't do my job without them.  

Gray:  To media, pages 172-4 says media can schedule meetings with detainees.  Also like to thank Department of Law.  They chose to answer in writing and they are available on BASIS. You can see the letter here.  

Concludes hearing at 3:10 pm

It's Time To Catch Up Here - From No-Snow, Yes-Snow, Trees, Basketball, DEI etc.

There are lots of reasons I haven't blogged for a while.  There's so much nonsense flooding social media, I'd like to not add to it.  But there are also terrible things happening that are begging for push back.  But if I blog about them, I want to offer a different perspective than what everyone else is saying, and I haven't been very confident I could.  

But also, we've returned to Anchorage.  Aside from finding Anchorage strangely snow free in early/mid March, there was also a spruce leaning on another tree in the back yard.  (There had been strong winds while we were gone.) I did get a couple of bike rides in on snow free sidewalks/biketrails.  

We've got a tree cutting proposal, but they said the current priority is getting down Christmas lights that are still up.  I think the tree is firmly lodged into the other tree.  Someone - the phone people?  electric people? - cut off the top of the tree which must have looked threatening to the wires along the alley in back.  

But then, finally, the snow came.  

We've been sorting through mail, and just catching up.  I brought the rose bushes in from the garage.   They've already started leafing out.                                                                                      Brought the begonia basket in too.  They began to poke out of the soil in a few days.  

Our internet has been on and off, more off than on.  This morning it was off again but while I was calling Alaska Communications (ACS), I noticed there was a truck up in the alley and a guy on a cherry picker working near the pole.  The ACS tech guy on the phone said they had decided there was a short and the guy at the pole was splicing something.  It still didn't work when he left.  

I went off to school.  The particular kid I'm focused on was out for the third day this week.  He was there Tuesday and it was nice to see each other after our long break.  Our regular routine is:

Steve:  "Good morning, A... how are you today?"

He's supposed to, and generally does, answer, "I'm fine thank you.  And you?"  The daily repetition is intended to get him comfortable speaking in English and it's been working.  But Tuesday he had trouble answering.  I finally figured it out.  It wasn't that he'd forgotten while I was gone.  It was just that he wasn't 'fine, thank you' and he didn't know how to say, 'I'm not feeling well.'

And he hasn't been there since Tuesday.  But that gives me a chance to help out other kids in the class.  I discovered today that two kids couldn't tell me what 2X8 equals off the top of their heads.  Working on ways to help them learn the multiplication of basic numbers from one to ten.  

And while the Trump administration is trying to erase all pictures and mentions of non-white males in US history (see War heroes and military firsts are among 26,000 images flagged for removal in Pentagon’s DEI purge)  the elementary school I'm volunteering in has very recently put up four large murals that feature men and women of note, representing various ethnicities.  

Part of me doesn't really want to bring any unwanted attention to this addition.  This had to have been arranged before Trump's White Nationalist staffers began their crusade to erase non-white, non-males from our history.  The fact that they are taking images of, and stories about, people like these down at the national level shows that the rhetoric about efficiency and cutting the budget are just smokescreen for getting rid of anything that challenges their white male image of the United States.  It costs more to find and delete these images than to leave them up.  And what kind of person feels compelled to erase images of people who aren't white or aren't male?  In my eyes it shows how scared they are to allow anything that suggests anyone else has played a role in making this nation great.  But it's clear that it is white males who are trying to destroy the greatness of the United States.  (Wow.  I'm just writing this to explain the pictures, but what a good segue into the next picture.) 

Went with a friend to GCI (the other phone/internet company in town) the other day where there was a protest against Rep. Nick Begich for speaking to a private group, closed to the public, because he won't speak to his constituents at a public meeting.  Even though the original sponsoring organizations pulled out - the reasons weren't made clear - there were still about 40 folks out with signs about various issues they'd like to discuss - from Ukraine, to fired federal workers, vets,  and the looming wipe outs at Social Security, Medicaid, and the Department of Education.  

I'd note that former US Senator Ted Stevens died in "a DeHavilland DHC-3T . . . registered to Anchorage-based General Communications Inc., a phone and Internet company" on the way to their private remote lodge near Dillingham.

We also got to watch the state high school championship game between the girls' teams from Fort Yukon and Shaktoovik last Saturday at the sports center at UAA.  (It disturbs me that the state underfunds the university and other state organizations so that they have to beg private companies to pay for such things and then plaster the name of the company on the buildings.  I realize most USians probably don't remember when stadiums were not covered with corporate advertising and companies didn't buy naming rights to buildings all over campus, but I do.  Until the 1970s or so, we weren't confronted with corporate branding everywhere we went.  They did name buildings for individual donors* back then, but not for corporate donors.  But then that gets back to issues like cutting taxes continuously for the wealthy and for corporations since the 1950s so that governments have less money and the public has to go to wealthy individuals and corporations to beg for money for public facilities.  So that's why I'm only calling the building 'sports center.')

.

Fort Yukon won in a great game.  Lots of passing and setting up shots.  Though the three point rule tempts people to shoot when they probably shouldn't.  

State Infectious Virus Reports

While my regular posts have been slow in coming lately, I have been posting updates based on the (now) weekly updates to the State's Infections Virus Snapshots.  Those don't show up here among the regular posts, but can be found at the tab up top (under the orange header) titled: Respiratory Virus Cases October 2023    Below the introduction are weekly updates (well, not quite. . . there was a period when they were updating them monthly) with new charts and the numbers for each type of virus.  The State's chart is interactive, but each new chart has updated numbers, the original numbers disappear.  So I capture the the originals and the updates so you can see if and how much the numbers changed from when first put up to a week or two later.  When they were doing it monthly, I could only compare the original and updated numbers for the last week of the month because it was the only weekly set of numbers shown twice.  This is getting way too complicated.  If you have questions leave a comment.  

The charts look like the one below and I add some commentary each week.  

You can also go to the state site to see the interactivity of this chart.  

When I got back from the school today, the internet still wasn't working, and again I called ACS, and again, as I was talking I saw an ACS truck in front of the house.  And 20 minutes after the truck left, I could get email and start writing this post.  

*Individual donors.  Even then, there were tremendous protests that UCLA named the new basketball arena after a wealthy oilman and donor, Edwin Pauley, and not for Coach Johnny Wooden who put UCLA basketball on the map with a string of undefeated seasons and national championships.  Before that, UCLA was scrambling for a court for the basketball team.  They played in the Sports Arena near the Coliseum (next door to the campus of rival USC) when they could get it.  Sometimes at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, and even the Venice High School gym.  

The Good And The Bad Of Today's Alaska Airlines Trip To LA [UPDATED]

You don't need to read this.  I just need to get it out of my system.  

[UPDATE Monday, Dec 16, 2024:  We each got a $75 discount code for for future flights.  This is fine with us since Alaska is our basic airline.]  

We had tickets (from Anchorage) to Seattle for 10:35am getting to Seattle at 3:11pm (You lose an hour going Anchorage to Seattle)

Then an LA leaving at 4:56pm arriving in LA at 7:45pm

The first delay notice was to 11am departure.

Then 12:20pm

Then 3:00 pm

We had this experience about a year and a half ago trying to catch a non-stop to Chicago.  After many delays, the flight was cancelled and we had to fly through Seattle about 10 hours late.

At this point we've been on the phone to Alaska Airlines changing our LA flights.  Then we got a notice that the LA flight was cancelled.  We were still in Anchorage.  

There was an announcement that another flight was taking off to Seattle at Gate 6.  We walked to Gate 6 and asked if we could get on it.  It was almost noon.  We could.  And we got two seats together.  But we had to get on right away and couldn't redo the LA flight from Seattle. 

Alaska had also sent us four $12 vouchers for today at ANC or SEATAC.  

When we landed at 4:30pm I texted Alaska Airlines and they quickly had us rebooked on a 5:58pm flight to LA.  Just enough time to use our coupons to get some yakisoba and board the plane.  

In the end, we landed in LA an hour later than originally scheduled.  

LAX a couple of years ago banned taxis and Lyft and Uber from the terminals and put them in their own spot.  So you can't get out of the terminal and grab a cab.  There are shuttle busses or you can walk.  When we've waited for the shuttle it's been a long wait, so we walked about 25 minutes.  Then there was a long line waiting for cabs.  It's a poor solution to the jam of Uber and Lyfts that caused them to do this.

But we're here, at my mom's house and the kids and grandkids are due when their schools are out.  So I'm not really complaining.  Just reporting.  

It seems that Alaska is able to quickly change things by phone, but people waiting at the counters seemed to have more difficulties.  And when our flight was changed to 3pm, why couldn't they move us to the other flight that had some empty seats and was leaving 3 hours earlier?  If we hadn't walked over, the plane would have left with at least two empty seats if not more.  

So I'm impressed with being able to book online or by phone so quickly.  And I realize that things happen and planes need repairs that delay them.  Though at one point I had to delete my app and then download it again because it stopped showing the changes we'd made.  

Our original flight didn't leave until 3:15pm.  We got to LA an hour after the original flight landed in Seattle.  

I'd also add that that if you are MVP, you get a phone number that seems to be answered much faster than the regular phone number.  We haven't flown that much in the last few years - not enough to get MVP - but Alaska has extended so called elite flyers status during COVID.  This year they let you get to that magic 20K miles using miles gained through use of your Alaska Airlines VISA card.  

And the people who answer the phone are soo polite and competent.  

AIFF 2024 - Saturday Dec 7 Schedule

There's a lot to see Saturday from 9am until 10pm.  At the Bear Tooth, the Museum, and even coffee with film makers at the Alaska Experience Theater.  

The focus has been on the two films at the Bear Tooth Saturday.  One is an Alaska focused film on fishing in Bristol Bay and the other has skiing and mountains.  Both those kinds of films do well at AIFF festivals, which, I'm sure, is why they're at the Bear Tooth.  And Champions of Golden Valley is essentially sold out already.  Unearth has some seats left in the balcony.  

But for my money, the film to see will be Porcelain War, at the Museum at 6pm.  It premiered at Sundance and has won many awards.  It's a film about Ukrainian artists fighting the war with art.  There's a trailer down below.

So basically, I'm presenting Saturday as chronologically as I can - given that there is overlap between the Bear Tooth and the Museum at 12:30pm

Things start off early at  the first of the festival's "Coffee Talk and Panels" at the Alaska Experience theater.  

"Debut Dreams: The Journey of First-Time Directors"

SATURDAY December 7th at 9:00AM

Alaska Experience Theater 

First features are filled with passion, challenges, and the thrill of discovery. This panel brings together debut directors who dared to dive into filmmaking, sharing insights into their creative processes, struggles, and triumphs. Hear how they’ve shaped their visions into powerful first features and what advice they’d give to those taking their own first steps.

And then at 10am at the museum.   

At 10 am:    Ultimate Citizens

From the film website:  

ULTIMATE CITIZENS is the story of Jamshid Khajavi, an extraordinary 65-year-old Iranian American public school counselor who uses the sport of Ultimate Frisbee to help children heal. In an America where many families are quietly, barely getting by, Mr. Jamshid coaches an underdog team of kids on their way to compete in the world’s largest youth tournament. ULTIMATE CITIZENS is a celebration of resilience and belonging, and the third independent feature documentary from award-winning filmmaker Francine Strickwerda.

It first showed in May 2023, and has been at (and won awards at) a number of festivals this year.  The AIFF/Goelevant site says it was filmed at Seattle’s Hazel Wolf K-8 school.

Then come two shorts programs.  The first conflicts with Champions of Golden Valley at the Bear Tooth.

12:30 PM – 2:30 PM: International Gems – Event Tickets

Ivania – 12:00

Complications – 14:00

K.O.- 27:00

Pioneras – 14:30

Monte Clerigo – 27:30

Meanwhile, at the Bear Tooth:

Two Documentaries,

12 Noon:  Unearth 

Picture from Rogovy Foundation 

"Environmental activist Erin Brockovich has signed on to executive produce 
“Unearth,” a new documentary that will make its world premiere at DOC NYC   on Nov. 16.

Directed, produced and shot by Hunter Nolan, “Unearth” tells the story of two sets of siblings — the Salmon sisters and the Strickland brothers — who live in Alaska’s Bristol Bay. Both sets of siblings are alarmed when they learn of and fight against advanced plans for a Pebble Mine — a massive open-pit gold and copper mine — in the vicinity of their homes. The Salmon sisters, Native Alaskans, work on the regulatory front, pushing the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to block the project, while the Strickland brothers, independent fishermen, expose the truth behind what the Pebble Mine developer is telling the public. The 93-minute doc reveals systemic failures in mining and the balance between the need for materials and their environmental costs."  (From Variety)

November 16 wasn't that long ago, so AIFF audiences will be among the first to see this Alaska based film.  You can learn more about the film at the Rogovy Foundation website. 

As of Thursday night, there are some seats left in the balcony at the Bear Tooth.

2:30 pm Champions of the Golden Valley

Picture from Champions of the Golden Valley website

This film got front page coverage in the Anchorage Daily News yesterday so I won't spent much more time on it here.  From their website: 

"In the remote mountains of Afghanistan, a newfound passion for skiing attracts young athletes from rival villages to the slopes. With minimal gear and makeshift wooden skis, the determined  coach Alishah Farhang organizes a ski race like no other that unites the community in a moment of joy and triumph, just before the country’s collapse

Champions of the Golden Valley captures the spirit of a classic underdog sports story with the heartfelt portrait of a community finding hope amid disrupted dreams. Revealing a stunning unseen side of Afghanistan, it is an uplifting exploration of what it means to be a champion – in all its forms."

As of Thursday night, the Bear Tooth map shows one seat way up in the far corner of the balcony.  

 

For those who have tickets at the Bear Tooth, Golden Valley ends at 2:30pm, and you could make it to the 3pm Alaska shorts at the Museum.  But there will be a number of film makers at the conference.  If Golden Valley has representatives coming, there will surely be some questions and answers afterward.  But if you miss the first or second short, there are more in the program.  

3:00 PM – 5:00 PM: Made in Alaska Shorts #1 – 

The Gingerbread Man – 9:03

The Glacier Pilot – 10:00

Footprints on Katmai – 21:50

The Grace – 13:00

Mending the Net – 11:36

5:30 PM – 6:00 PM: Alaska Jewish Museum Presents – Demon Box –  This film is free at the Museum, it's not clear if you have to buy tickets in advance to be sure you get in.  The IMDB page says:

"After festival rejections, a director revises his intensely personal short film about trauma, suicide, and the Holocaust, and transforms it into a painful, blunt and funny dissection of the film and his life."

It also has a short trailer, that I don't see a way to embed here.  I'd note that Leslie Fried, the director of  the Jewish Museum in Anchorage has unfailingly nominated excellent films every year.  

There's still more on Saturday at the Museum

6:00 PM – 8:00 PM: Documentary Feature: Porcelain War  at the Museum

This is a Ukrainian movie and from what I can tell is one of the movies to see at the festival.  From the NYTimes: 

"The latest documentary dispatch from Ukraine, “Porcelain War,” brings a message of hope rooted in art. Making art does feel like an act of resistance during the Russian invasion, when Kremlin propaganda attacks the very existence of Ukrainian culture. But what’s intriguing is that the directors, Brendan Bellomo and Slava Leontyev, also celebrate Ukraine’s military defense, making for a jangly mix of idyll and warfare.

Slava, who appears in the film, is both a ceramist and a member of an Ukraine special forces unit who gives weapons training to civilians turned soldiers. His partner, Anya, paints the whimsical figurines he creates, and the irrepressible couple weather the war in bombed-out Kharkiv with their more anxious pal Andrey, a painter and cameraman."

From Deadline:

"The film has won 30 prizes around the world, including the Grand Jury Prize for U.S. Documentary at Sundance. This past weekend, it earned the Grand Jury Award for Best Feature Documentary at the Woodstock Film Festival in New York, as well as the Best Documentary Editing Award. And at the Heartland International Film Festival in Indianapolis, it won the Documentary Feature Grand Prize, which comes with a $20,000 cash award."

8:00 PM – 10:00 PM: Narrative Feature: Midwinter   at the Museum

"Nadine is tired and her whole body aches with inflammation and she can sleep. Her son Goldie keeps her active beyond her energy level. Her husband Jack owns a large ad agency and has been a loving husband who has recently expanded his romantic life beyond his marriage to include co-worker Maeve...who happens to be the ex-partner of his sister-in-law Lena. Lena is a burgeoning music writer who, getting over a break-up, takes on an assignment writing about one of her favorite queer indie artists, Mia Hawthorne. Mia is out in the Berkshires, in search of inspiration, a bit frustrated with a high-class problem: the record label wants her to have a co-writer. The mundane poetry of life ensues.

Ryan Andrew Balas

Director, Writer"  (From TMBD) 

Midwinter is also streaming on Netflix and other streaming sites, so if it's been a long day already, you can watch it at home.   

The Numbers Don't Add Up - The National Gaps vs Alaska Gaps

Kamal Harris lost the popular vote to Donald Trump by almost 10 million votes!

How did the election swing so far to Trump?  How much was voter suppression - mail-in ballots sent too late to get back, Russian bomb threats and who knows what other shenanigans?  Too few polling places in Democratic areas?  Suppression of student votes and other forms?  

How is it that Trump, after losing the popular vote to Clinton by 3 million votes 

"[Clinton] outpaced President-elect Donald Trump by almost 2.9 million votes, with 65,844,954 (48.2%) to his 62,979,879 (46.1%), according to revised and certified final election results from all 50 states and the District of Columbia."

and to Biden by 7 million votes, 

"Biden’s popular vote margin over Trump tops 7 million"

now beats Harris by almost 10 million votes?  There were 155 million votes in 2020 but only 145 million this time.  By all accounts there was a record number of people turning out this time.  It would seem some votes are missing.    

The numbers we have would mean the gap between increased by 13 million and by 17 million against Biden.  

It doesn't add up.  I know, racism and misogyny play a role, but not that much.  Especially after all the terrible things we learned about Trump after the 2020 election.  They've been listed by everyone already from Jan 6 through convictions and indictments.  And I'd argue that Harris ran a much better and exciting campaign than Clinton or Biden did.  And it sure looked like there were lots of people voting early and on election day.  

How is it possible for him to have won the popular vote by a huge margin this time when he lost it significantly the two previous races?  

Alaska Totals Don't Match The US Totals

It seems even more suspicious when you look at the Alaska totals.  Alaska is a red state, so the increased Trump numbers should be more exaggerated in Alaska than the US total which includes blue states and red states.  But it isn't.  The opposite.  

Harris did better than Clinton, and not quite as well as Biden in Alaska.  

Trump beat Clinton by 47,000 votes in Alaska in 2016..  

Alaska Div of Elections

Trump beat Biden by 36,000 votes in Alaska.  

Alaska Div of Elections    xxx

  

But Trump only beat Harris by 39,000 votes this time.  3000 votes more than Biden lost by, but 8,000 votes fewer than Clinton lost by in Alaska.  

Alaska Div of Elections

Alaska's a red state.  If the number were consistent with the Lower 48 numbers, she should have lost by a lot more than Biden and Clinton lost by.  But her numbers were better than Clinton's.  

So my dilemma is how to connect the dots in a way that makes sense.  Not to make up some wild story, but to offer a plausible hypothesis or two that could be tested by people with better math skills and better data analysis skills and maybe some ability to uncover Russian (or others) tampering with out election computer systems. 

One could argue that misogyny and racism gave Trump more votes in the Lower 48, but then why not have a similar change in Alaska?  We have among the highest statistics for murdered and raped women.  

Or you could blame it on the economy or immigration and border issues.  But whatever policy issues you might raise, people in Alaska have as much access as Lower 48 voters to Fox News and odd internet sites that supported Trump with relentless lies. 

What makes sense to me is someone tinkered with the computers.  Or the ballots.  That's not that far fetched.  Trump, before the election repeatedly said if he lost it would be because of election rigging.  

Trump always projects his own behavior onto others. He's a criminal and rapist who said the Haitian refugees were criminals and rapists.  If the Guinness Book of Records had a category on liars, Trump would certainly be in the top five if not the winner.  And he calls anyone who puts him in a bad light a liar.  He accuses others of his own behaviors.  

He told us over and over that the elections were rigged.  Does that mean he was rigging them?  Not conclusively, but it's a clue that fits the pattern.  Just need some serious investigation of this.  Just as Trump would have demanded had he lost.  To be sure.  

Comparing the national gaps between Trump and his three presidential opponents and comparing them to the Alaska gaps raises real questions for me.  

I'm not saying it happened, but I'm saying there are serious inconsistencies that require some explanation.  

I'm sure the Trump mafia are laughing at how easy it was to get Harris to concede.  They knew she would play by the traditional rules that they have flouted since . . . always.  

Joe Biden, you've got three months to try out your Supreme Court granted immunity.  I'm not calling for you to blow up Mar-A-Lago,  but I'd like to see you push some limits to find out more about the Russian Trump election interference and how the numbers got so out of whack.  And it might show us that the Supreme Court has more comfort with Trump transgressions than Biden transgressions.  If it does, it might be forced to put more restrictions on Trump's immunity.  

Oh, and maybe look into the medical records of Trump's ear.  We've essentially heard nothing.  If he'd really been hit in ear, we'd have heard the doctors explaining it in detail and Trump would be showing off the scar.  

 

Trump Beat Biden In Alaska By Only 35K Votes, 234K Didn't Vote

In 2016, Trump beat Clinton, in Alaska, by 46,943 votes.  

From Alaska Div of Elections

While that seems like a lot of votes, there were 207,287 registered voters WHO DIDN'T VOTE.  That's fewer than the number who voted, but it's still a huge number.  60% of registered voters voted.  

A caveat:  Not all the people on the Alaska voter list still live in Alaska or are even alive.  But even if the ineligibles equaled 25% (1/4) of the list, that would still leave 150,000 people who didn't think it was important or convenient enough to vote.  

From: Alaska Div of Elections

In 2020, Trump beat Biden, in Alaska, by 35,742 votes.  

This time there were 234,247 people who didn't vote.  Say, 175,000 of them were still eligible Alaska voters.

And this time, according to the State's website, there were almost 70,000 more voters.  Trump's winning margin shrank by 21,000 votes, by more than 1/3.  

We learned a lot more about Trump after the 2016 election.

A lot of things happened during Trump's presidency from a pandemic during which Trump said repeatedly that COVID would just go away. See this CNN graphic of his many such proclamations along with the increasing number of cases.

And Trump was impeached once.  

And I suspect, sadly, that many people voted for Biden (but not Clinton) just because he was a man.

A lot more has happened since the 2020 election. 

• There was the January 6 insurrection that he promoted. 
• Another impeachment.
• The 50 plus lost Trump court cases challenging Biden's election win.
• The various Trump indictments and convictions.
• The classified documents stored in a Mar-a-Lago bathroom.
• The overturning of Roe v Wade
• The publicity over the Supreme Court's right wing justices' unreported gifts, in one case, millions of dollars worth.
• The Court's granting immunity to presidents.

Meanwhile the Biden administration lowered the inflation they inherited and passed huge infrastructure bills which have pumped billions into the US economy and are repairing much of our long neglected bridges, roads, electrical grids, internet access, ports, airports, and many other facilities. 

Sure, many die-hard Trump voters limit their intake of information to media that only say good things about Trump and terrible things about Democrats.  But many others - Independents, Republicans - who do get more than Fox News and further right social media propaganda.  

I have no data on how many of the Alaska non-voters were male or female or something else.  But surely there are 30,000 Alaska women, and men with daughters, who for whatever reason, did not vote in 2020, but who have an interest in making sure that the Dobbs decision that overturned Roe, will not lead to restrictions on female health procedures in Alaska.  Let's let them know they can flip Alaska blue.  Yes, I know it's a stretch, but it's certainly within possibility.

For context, NPR reported in 2020 the margins in the swing states that voted for Biden:

Arizona - 10,457 votes

Georgia - 12,670

Michigan - 154,188

Nevada - 33,506

Pennsylvania - 81,660

Wisconsin - 20,282

 Alaska has way fewer people than these states.  Nevertheless, there were 237,000 registered voters in Alaska who didn't vote in 2020. 

Ranked Choice Voting Back On Nov Ballot/Nancy Dahlstrom Drops Out of US House Race

 Let's see if I can write a quick, short post.  

1.  The Alaska Supreme Court approved a lower court ruling putting a ballot measure to repeal Ranked Choice Voting after there were a number of challenges to how the group operated.  I didn't read the court case [I went back and looked and it's very short and says, 

"An opinion explaining this decision will be issued at a later date."

but the Anchorage Daily News reported today that a) they have traditionally decided in favor of putting measures on the ballot and b) the technical issue (a notary's license had expired) wasn't the fault of the petitioners and so getting a signature booklet notarized again, after the deadline, was acceptable.  There were other irregularities for which the petitioners got a hefty fine (like hiding funding sources by forming a 'church' in Washington State) but in the end, it will be on the ballot.  

2.  The anti ranked choice voting push is coming from the die-hard Republicans of Alaska.  They keep talking about it hurting them.  In one sense, they are right.  The change to ranked choice voting includes getting rid of closed primaries.  In closed primaries the more extreme and partisan Republican candidates tend to get elected.  Open primaries combined with ranked choice voting dilutes the partisanship because more than die-hard Republicans vote in the open primary.  But, ranked choice voting means that if there are several people from the same party in the final four from the primary, they don't have to split the vote and lose to a Democrat.  They just have to it cooperate and get Republicans to rank other Republican candidates second and even third.  If they only vote for one candidate, they aren't helping the party to get the most out of ranked choice voting.  

But they can't quite seem to take advantage of it.  Last time round (2022, the first time we used ranked choice voting) lots of voters chose one of the two top Republicans first and then either did not rank anyone else or chose the Democratic candidate.   

3.  Today, we also learned that Republican candidate Nancy Dahlstrom, who came in third behind Democratic incumbent Mary Peltola and Republican challenger Nick Begich III, dropped out of the race.  Begich had pledged to drop out if he wasn't the top GOP candidate, but Dahlstrom hadn't made such a pledge.  But she got A LOT of comments on Twitter yesterday telling her to drop out.  Will it matter?  She could have just told her voters to vote for Begich as their second choice.  

Rather than take advantage of ranked choice voting by cooperating on ranking, they've pushed Dahlstrom out altogether.  

4.  But the Democratic incumbent got just over 50% of the initial primary vote.  The turnout was very low.  Only 16% of voters participated.  This does not count the people who voted by mail though, and the numbers will go up somewhat and that 50% might change.  But that's a formidable lead.  And there were 12 total candidates.  If a candidate drops out, the next highest candidate moves up to the fourth spot on the ballot.  

Also, this primary was not a high interest election.  Voters had only the Congressional race, which with ranked choice voting, wasn't going to eliminate the top Democratic or Republican choices, plus a state house race in each district.  And one third of the districts had Senate races.  [It's supposed to be 1/3 of the senate get voted on each election, but right after redistricting, the first election may have more.  (I just went back and checked - there were ten senate races, which is 1/2 of the senators.)] 

Unfortunately, I suspect most voters don't really know much about their state house and senate candidates.  I was surprised Tuesday at how long some people spent in the voting booths to vote for three races. (I was a poll worker so I could see that.) 

But I think there will be a lot more interest when the presidential candidates are on the ballot in November.  The US House race will essentially be a two person race.  Dahlstrom, the third place candidate had 20% of the vote.  The fourth place candidate, Matt Salisbury, had .60% (that's less than one per cent) as of the Tuesday night tally.  With Dahlstrom dropping out, there will be room for the next highest vote getter, John Wayne Howe, the Alaska Independent Party candidate who got .57% of the vote.  

I suspect a lot of voters who absolutely don't want Trump will put Peltola (the Democrat) first or second, but will skip the strongly anti-abortion Begich as a second choice.  

5.  Ranked choice voting was approved in 2020 by a slim majority by voters.  But I think Alaskans got to see how easy and sensible it was in 2022 (I was a poll worker and got to hear from voters as they brought their filled out ballots to the voting machine).  I did have one voter on Tuesday (I worked at the polls again in the primary) who was vehemently opposed to ranked choice voting.  "It's unconstitutional.  It's one man one vote, not four votes."  But I'm guessing he doesn't represent most Alaskan voters, who, I believe will endorse it more strongly this time.  

Also, the national organizations supporting ranked choice voting are putting a fair amount of money up to make sure it stays in Alaska.  (See the ADN article linked above)

Poll Working - And Peltola Does Well

 Yesterday was primary election day in Anchorage.  It was a beautiful sunny day and I biked over to Kasuun Elementary school (and passed the 1200 km mark for the summer so far). 

It was basically unremarkable.  People came, showed ID, got their ballots, voted in a voting booth, then brought the ballot to the voting machine where it was scanned.

None of the ballots were rejected by the scanner. (In 2022, the first time we had ranked choice voting, the machine did reject some of the ballots.  But the screen explained why - usually the person had voted for more than one person with the same ranking.)  

But this election was simple.  One US Congress seat.  One state house seat.  And in some districts there was also a state senate seat.  

After the ballot was scanned, voters got a choice of Alaska themed "I Voted" stickers.  

I did notice that the scanner was touchy.  Most people had a bit of trouble getting the scanner to suck in their ballot.  I'm not sure what the people who got it scanned in right away did differently from the others.  

But I did discover, toward the end, that if voters turned the privacy sleeve (with the ballot inside) upside down, then took the blank side of the ballot out of the sleeve and put it into the slot on the scanner, it went in with no problem.  (They scan from either end of the ballot, whatever side is up.)  Because the ballot choices were so few, the backside of the ballot was blank.  So no one's votes were visible. That won't be the case in November.  

There were also four first time voters I got to congratulate - three young men and a young woman.  Maybe there were more, but I wasn't aware.  Okay, some will ask how I was aware, so here's how.  The first two were very young looking and I just asked, "You're not a first time voter are you?"and they smiled and said yes.  The parents of the other two alerted me.  

On the negative side, the turnout was really low.  Not sure exactly what the percentage was, but we had over 2000 registered voters on the list and when we finished the scanner said that 294 had voted.  If we round it off to 2000 total (and there were more than that) 200 votes would be 10%.  300 votes would be 15%.  But then I don't know how many people voted by mail.  That's easy to do.  At least four people dropped off their mail in ballots, which go in the box with the questioned ballots and don't get scanned.  

Actually, I can figure this out more precisely.  I looked up the Division of Elections page for House District 12.  

My estimate wasn't pretty close.  I said 300 would have been 15% if there were 2000 voters.  There were 2174 registered voters and the turnout was 13.53%.  Not an impressive number.  The chart also lists 117 Absentee voters and 438 early voters.  But that's for the entire district, not just the one precinct. I would have thought there were more.

I'd also note that when I left there was a discrepancy in the numbers.  The number of voters listed on the rolls (they are highlighted in yellow and sign their name) was 293.  And when the counted all the questioned and special needs ballots and the checked the ballot stubs, minus the spoiled ballots, that came out to 293 as well.  I'd helped take down the voting booths and putting away other things and since I was biking, I wanted to take off and asked if I was needed further and so I left without finding out how the discrepancy was resolved.  But these counting issues come up every year and the training program spent a fair amount of time on this. 

The whole house district voted for the NON incumbent, with a 14.11% voter turnout.  I assume that NON refers to non-partisan.  The Division of Elections page on parties lists N as non-partisan.  Schrage has been part of the House Coalition comprised of Democrats and most Republicans.

The whole Senate district gave the Democratic incumbent a plurality.   

And of more interest, I assume, to non-Alaskan readers, voters gave Democratic US House of Representatives member Mary Peltola 50.38% of the vote in a 12 way race!  The two major Republican vote getters were Alaska Republican Party endorsed candidate Nick Begich with 26.98%, and Trump and major Congressional Republicans supported candidate Nancy Dahlstrom with 20.01%.  

Remember, this is an open (all candidates together) primary and the four top candidates go on to the general election which will be ranked-choice.

The turnout in the Congressional race was also low - 15%.  As impressive as winning a majority in a 12 person race with two well supported  Republicans, the general election, being a presidential election, will have a lot more voters.  While she may not win a majority in the first round, Peltola is in a good position to win enough second place votes to pull 

Nick Begich had promised to drop out if he was in third place behind Dahlstrom.  Dahlstrom made no such commitment.  

In 2022, many who voted for the top Republicans as their first choice vote, gave Democrat Peltola their second place vote.  Not another Republican. I would say this is a good sign for the Democratic House elections.  

One final note - House District 18, which includes two military bases, had less than 5% turnout.  Ouch.