A legal battle has erupted in Anchorage Superior Court over allegations that the state failed to open 18 rural voting sites. The lawsuit, Midnight Sun Independence Fund v . Dahlstrom, arrives just hours before a pivotal U.S. senate election where polling suggests a razor-thin margin between candidates.
The 18,158 voters caught in the absentee-in-person gap
The absentee-in-person voting process is critical for the 18,158 Alaskans who reside in remote areas where sites are often reachable only by plane or boat. According to the complaint, at least 18 sites listed on the Division of Elections website—including Alakanuk, Chignik Bay, and Goodnews Bay—were not operating during the week of October 19.
This disruption threatens the reliability of the vote in Alaska Native villages, where local officials have reported receiving no ballots or instructions. The report says these closures could violate a federal consent decree in Toyukak v. Dahlstrom, which mandates that the state provide Yup'ik language assistance to voters in Western Alaska.
Carol Beecher’s 12-site confirmation vs. the lawsuit's claims
Division of Elections Director Carol Beecher has disputed the scale of the alleged closures in a letter to State Senator Bill Wielechowski. In that correspondence, Beecher claimed that 12 of the 18 sites had confirmed they were open, while three had declined to open and three had not responded to inquiries.
However, the state has not specified which villages fall into which category. As reported by Newsweek, the Division of Elections declined to identify the specific sites when asked for clarification, relying instead on the official website's listing of site availability.
The 11-day blackout in Nanwalek
In the village of Nanwalek, community elder Thomas Evans noted that the lack of a local precinct has handicapped the community's ability to count voter preferences. While the state's website lists the Nanwalek IRA Office as having been open since October 19, the 907 Initiative—a political group using a crowd-sourced tracker—reports the site did not actually open until October 30.
If these claims are accurate, Nanwalek voters were left without a local in-person voting option for the first 11 days of the early voting period.. Without an active site, residents would be forced to travel to Tyonek, a Dena'ina village located on the far side of Cook Inlet, to cast their ballots.
Who is funding the Midnight Sun Independence Fund?
The Midnight Sun Independence Fund, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit, is at the center of the litigation, but its financial backers remain a mystery. Because it is a nonprofit, the group is not legally obligated to disclose its donors, leaving the true source of its legal challenge unverified.
This lack of transparency is notable given the group's ties to the Midnight Sun PAC, which has spent more than $4 million in independent advertising to support Democrat Mary Peltola’s Senate bid. This connection raises questions about whether the lawsuit is a purely procedural effort to ensure access or a strategic move within a highly competitive political landscape.
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