Takeaways from AP’s reporting on challenges to voting in Alaska Native villages

Associated Press

KAKTOVIK, Alaska (AP) — The right to vote is considered sacrosanct in the U.S., but it isn’t always so in the tiny, remote Native villages across Alaska. In these far-flung locations, challenges to voting abound. Mail and phone service can be unreliable, with severe storms or worker illness causing delays. Sometimes the polls simply don’t open if there’s no one trained to serve as an election supervisor. Hundreds of people can be disenfranchised. The Associated Press sent journalists this month to one village above the Arctic Circle where the precinct failed to open for the August primary. Here are some takeaways from the AP’s reporting.