Joaqlin Estus

More than 85 Indigenous candidates won election on Nov. 8 to political offices up and down the ballot in 22 states, adding Indigenous representation to Congress, statehouses, courtrooms and local governments across a wide swath of the nation. The…

Fuel costs and food insecurity are two issues Rep. Mary Peltola, Yup’ik, D-Alaska, plans to take on as she begins her first full term as a U.S. Representative in 2023. Peltola is the first Alaska Native person to be elected to the U.S. House of…

Alaskans adopted a new election system in 2021. Let’s compare it with the system still being used in most of the country. Generally in the primary election, political parties — like Republicans, Democrats or Independents — pick the candidates that…

Joaqlin Estus ICT Democrat Mary Peltola, Yup’ik, has been elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, making history as the first Alaska Native elected to Congress. She is also the first woman to hold Alaska’s only U.S. House seat. It was a special…

Joaqlin Estus ICT They’re both Republicans in sparsely populated heavily Republican states. One lost in her primary; the other didn’t. What’s deciding the different fates of Wyoming’s Liz Cheney, and Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski? It’s likely Alaska’s new…

Joaqlin Estus ICT On Wednesday Alaskans will find out the results of a special election to fill the remaining months of the late Congressman Don Young’s term of office. No one won a majority of votes in the first count of ranked choice votes. So the…

1 p.m. AK, Aug. 17 With 96 percent of the vote in, Mary Peltola, Yup’ik and a Democrat, shows a lead of 6 points over Sarah Palin and almost 10 points over Nick Begich, both Republicans. Peltola has 58,614, or 38.05 percent of the votes. Sarah Palin…

Joaqlin Estus ICT Voter turnout was low – well below half – in 2020 in some parts of rural Alaska, where Alaska Natives are in the majority. The National Congress of American Indians reports about 38 percent of registered voters in the Northwest…

ICT Alaska is trying out a new voting system. While it’s relatively untested, early indications are that it can be difficult to use ranked choice voting to its greatest effect. The system is used in only one other state, Maine, but has been used in…

Joaqlin Estus ICT Last year Alaskans voted to have open primaries and ranked choice voting. The first run through of the new process is underway in a special election to fill the position of Alaska’s sole Congressional representative. There are 48…

Alaskans are facing quite the U.S. Congressional election with a packed field of 48 candidates – including a North Pole city council member named Santa Claus – and a voting process that’s been tried in this country by only one other state, Maine.…

Indian Country Today The Alaska Native community is ready to support an Alaska Native candidate to fill the state’s sole Congressional seat if and when one steps forward. U.S. Rep. Don Young died March 18 at age 88. Special elections will be held to…

Carina Dominguez, Joaqlin Estus, Chris Aadland, and Mark Trahant Indian Country Today Heading into an election year another census shows an increasingly diverse population and many experts are following redistricting closely, saying diversity is not…

Bills that would revamp elections and voting rights laws are before Congress. However, wIth a potential government shutdown looming, and the debt ceiling needing to be raised, it’s unclear whether Congress will act on them before it recesses on Dec.…

Critics say the pairing of some legislative districts in Anchorage will diminish the clout of a racially diverse neighborhood while adding a state Senate seat for a predominantly White, heavily Republican area. The decision “opens the board up to an…

In November, Alaskans voted by a narrow margin to overhaul their election process. How might it help or hamper the state’s senior U.S. Senator, Republican Lisa Murkowski, who is up for reelection in 2022? Greg Razo, Yup’ik, was a sponsor of the voter…

'Relatives, this clearly is the most important election of our time' The first Native American Caucus meeting of this year’s Democratic National Convention kicked off online Tuesday with a land acknowledgment and a string of high-ranking female…

Experts predict massive turnout this year but say systemic problems could hamper voting from tribal communities #NativeVote20 Observers and pundits are predicting record-setting voter turnout in the coming election. But the number of votes from…

Edgar Blatchford faces two contenders in the Alaska primary on Aug. 18 #NativeVote20 Edgar Blatchford comes across as intelligent, good-natured, and funny. In an interview, he told a reporter to feel free to interrupt, saying, “I talk a lot.” When…