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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 municipal elections in San Francisco and New York.
The situation in Alaska is further complicated by the fact that two elections are overlapping.
A special election is underway to fill the last two months of the late Don Young’s term. Alaska’s sole Congress member died unexpectedly in March. Another election will be held for the position’s next two-year term, which starts in January.
The primaries in the special and general election are open. That is, voters can cast one vote for the candidate of any party. The top four candidates’ names are placed on the general election ballot.
The primary for the special election was held in June and the top four were to get their names on the special election ballot, except one of them dropped out. That leaves Republicans Nick Begich and Sarah Palin and Democrat Mary Peltola, who is Yup’ik. (Another Alaska Native, Tara Sweeney, Inupiaq, placed 5th in the primary). The top three will be running in the special election. READ MORE— Joaqlin Estus, ICT
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The chairman of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe on Tuesday slammed the federal agency that delivers health care to approximately 130,000 Native Americans located in North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska and Iowa for declining to hire tribal leaders’ choice for an area director.
Chairman Harold Frazier released a letter to President Joe Biden criticizing the decision for Indian Health Services to re-advertise the Great Plains area director position after tribal leaders had interviewed and recommended a candidate. Frazier’s criticism comes as tribal health advocates have pushed for stability in an agency that’s chronically underfunded and struggles to meet the needs of Indian Country.
“Your decision to readvertise this position and not appoint our agreed upon choice has removed our hopes and voices from the nation-to-nation and returned us to the “boss farmer” days of doing what we are told on reservations,” Frazier wrote in a fiery letter.
The acting Great Plains area director, Elizabeth Fowler, had written to tribal leaders explaining she had not selected the preferred candidate because it is important “to ensure new leadership is well-positioned to help make sustainable improvements” to the agency’s programs.
Indian Health Services did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Frazier’s letter.
On Wednesday, Roselyn Tso’s nomination to serve as the director of the Indian Health Service advanced to the full Senate.
The Senate Committee on Indian Affairs voted in a business meeting in favor of Joe Biden’s nomination.
It’s unclear when the Senate will vote on Tso’s appointment. — Associated Press
Fifty high school baseball players of Native American descent will be able to show their talents at the first Native American All-Star Baseball Showcase on July 16 to July 17.
The showcase will be held at Truist Park in Atlanta, Georgia, hosted by the Atlanta Braves and 7G Foundation.
“The reach of this event will extend beyond Braves Country as we welcome the top Native American student-athletes from across North America to hone and highlight their skills with Major League alumni and college and Major League scouts,” Derek Schiller, Atlanta Braves president and CEO, said in a press release.
Over 35 tribal affiliations from 13 states around the country and Canada will be represented.
Scouts from the Atlanta Braves, University of Tennessee, Georgia State University, Savannah State University, South Georgia State College, Mercer University, and Emory University will be in attendance.
Former Major League Baseball players Marquis Grissom, Johnny Estrada, Marvin Freeman and Lou Collier will coach the teams.
A pro-style workout will be on Saturday, July 16, and the showcase game will be on Sunday, July 17. — ICT
Native Hawaiians will be holding a summit later in July to decide how to make the best use of $600 million appropriated for return of Hawaaian homelands. The goal is to develop a strategic plan to present to the governor and legislature in December.
“With this milestone, members of the Sovereign Council of Hawaiian Homestead Associations will continue its work to produce a $600 million Beneficiary Strategic Plan to present to the next governor and legislature in December of this year,” said Kipukai Kualii, association policy chair in a prepared statement. “Our next planning session is scheduled for July 23rd on Oahu, where 50 homestead, allies and waitlist leaders will travel and gather to continue this essential work.”
The money was appropriated by the Hawai’i Legislature and signed into law on July 11.
“This is a significant funding allocation to the next administration of DHHL (the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands),” said Mike Kahikina, who is Native Hawaiian and chairman of the Association of Hawaiians for Homestead.
The summit will run from 9 to 5 on July 23. The next convening is scheduled for Sept. 15 and Oct. 8. The final draft of the sovereign council association’s $600 million Beneficiary Strategic Plan is scheduled for delivery to the state Legislature on Dec. 10.
To contribute to the work of the sovereign council association or to apply to attend the July policy summit, contact policy@hawaiianhomesteads.org. — ICT
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Rita Papakee’s family last saw her more than seven years ago.
At about 1 p.m. on Jan. 16, 2015, Papakee, 41, left work at the Meskwaki Bingo Casino and Hotel in Tama County, Iowa. She was reported missing by her family on Feb. 18, 2015, to the Meskwaki Nation Police Department after she did not pick up her last paycheck.
“Everybody is still wondering: Where is she, where is she?” Iris Roberts, Papakee’s mother, said.
Indigenous people are missing in Iowa, but disappearances span the nation.
In 2021, 9,572 Native Americans were reported missing, according to the National Crime Information Center. Of those reported missing, 54.4 percent were women. Indigenous women and girls face murder rates 10 times higher than the national average, according to research compiled in 2018 by the National Congress of American Indians. READ MORE— Investigate Midwest
Coverage around the world on Indigenous issues for the week ending July 10, 2022 READ MORE — Deusdedit Ruhangariyo, Special to ICT
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- Episcopalians to study role in boarding schools: The Episcopal Church operated at least nine boarding schools, according to a database compiled by the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition
- Pain passed from generation to generation: Growing up in the Tulalip boarding school, Harriette Shelton Dover would ‘just sit absolutely still and watch my playmates die’ of illness, hunger and cold
- ‘Learning is a lifelong journey’: Four Indigenous educators in Wisconsin are the first in the nation with a new doctorate in First Nations Education
- Joy Harjo US Poet Laureateship to end: ‘For a remarkable three terms as US poet laureate, Joy Harjo has tirelessly promoted Native poets and poetry’
- As Kuskokwim fishing lawsuit grows, lawyers say subsistence could be affected across Alaska
- Government must implement rights-based Indigenous fisheries: Senate report
- Shinnecock tribe protest Hamptons development that threaten sacred burial sites
We want your tips, but we also want your feedback. What should we be covering that we’re not? What are we getting wrong? Please let us know. dalton@ictnews.org.
