Alaskans, like all Americans, enjoy the privilege to participate in political decisions and determine their own local, state, and national leadership. This privilege not only invests the people with power but also requires public responsibility. People’s choice of local leadership impacts their individual lives the most of any type of election. However, many Alaskans seem unwilling to cast their votes in local elections. Palmer is a significant example.
According to Palmer’s 2025 unofficial election results, the people chose left-leaning former mayor Jim Cooper to lead their city. There are 5,114 registered voters in Palmer. Only 367 voiced their will. 92.82% of Palmer’s registered voters willingly abdicated their right and responsibility to the remaining 7.18%. In other words, the majority of registered voters in Palmer opted for an oligarchical structure where the few voice their will in government, and the many consent to the few.
Palmer’s dismal election turnout is far from unique among Alaska’s cities. Even cities with the highest voter turnouts reflect a similar oligarchical attitude. Haines Borough comes in with one of the highest voter turnouts at 45%. Still, over half of Haines’ registered voters seem willing to trust a minority of voters with some of the most important political decisions for the city.
In comparison, 55.8% of all registered Alaskan voters voiced their will in the 2024 national election. But only 44.38% of Alaskan voters spoke up in the 2022 statewide election. The majority of Alaskans recognize the need to exercise their right to vote when it comes to deciding national leadership. But state and local leadership? The majority’s refusal to vote democratically sanctions rule by the minority.
Natalie Spaulding, a 2025 Hillsdale college graduate, recently joined the Must Read Alaska team.
My experience has been that more public participation does automatically not yield higher quality results.
Most people are incompetent and functionally illiterate, except perhaps with their narrow field of experience. This is a demonstrable fact, everywhere verifiable.
Allowing any drooling moron access to a voting booth has yielded many decades are garbage decisions and garbage politicians. Placing a higher standard on poll access is a critical component of solving the problem.
Yes, you are clearly so superior to other humans. We stand in awe.
Bronius, you have made a pertinent observation above, especially when the voters motivation is to keep “free stuff” coming their way. We at one time had an answer to this problem in America, it was voter qualification, which nominally involved being in title to property. This is an especially important aspect since those that own property are required to pay for the “free stuff” given to those who do not own property. Beyond the obvious above it is important to remember that your public schools do not teach basic civics anymore, well perhaps they do, but it eminently has an anti-American Commie slant…
If you didn’t vote in your local election, then you just gave up your right to complain about the newly elected official.
Not true but you do win the contest for most tiresome remark.
Well said.
Well there you have it. And the so called conservatives, who I would guess are the majority of the population in Palmer, will now be the biggest complainers. Will they ever get off their butts and vote? Probably not.
We are enduring Trump. You can endure a Democratic mayor.
As a result of this election, Trump will be sending the Army Guard into Palmer soon.
And “not soon enough” imo.
We endured 12 years of Obama Biden. Trump is a cakewalk in comparison.
We are enduring? Maybe it your perspective? Try an engineering approach and look at first principles.
Faith, Family, Freedom.
It’s Foundational.
a wee bit of stereotyping aren’t we Dave? A sign of a small mind.
Proof that far too many alaskans are weed smokers, meth heads or opiate addicts who refuse to work for a living.
Where you from?
One way to possibly get more voter turnout out is to align elections with the state. This eliminates the October elections in which a vast majority of people are clueless that an election is taking actually place in October. This was done in MatSu Borough and now in the Kenai Peninsula Borough.
I agree.
In addition, less people are watching TV and reading newspapers, so getting the word out about when elections are occurring and which candidates are running is a new issue as well.
Eliminating the majority of voters via apathy was precisely the reason to schedule muni elections differently than state elections.
Possible, but there could be more.
Disagree.
The way to increase voter turnout in the locals is align them with the national elections. Same day, same ballot, and same polling location.
It’s not just voter apathy… city council and community council meetings are usually sparsely attended. Freedom is a parental responsibility/duty.
To many people of Alaska are lazy and take their rights for granted. I’ve voted in every election in my 74 years except when in southeast Asia. Alaska is being run by outsiders, and the stay at home voters are responsible.
The whining has commenced, but I see not one single idea for how to motivate our voters to the polls for local elections. Other than lots of time and money spent door knocking, I have no new ideas either. Robo-calls are an utter failure, as are spam emails – they piss people off. Snail mailers introduce, but lack what is needed most – the personal contact. When contacting, respectively, actively, LISTEN. If you care, and are seen to care, you just might gain a vote or two. AK Repubs, where is our army of door knockers?
“Other than lots of time and money spent door knocking”
Scott Pressler is doing just fine with essentially that very technique. Bring the message to the people. Granted, Scott is not knocking on individual doors, but the intent and outcomes are working.
Unfortunately another good reason to move all elections together. Local, state & national whenever possible.
Mail-in voting dramatically increases turnout. But the GOP is against this practice, thereby indicating that they believe it works against their interests and candidates.
Hans,
Please give us your definition of dramatically and please provide numbers to support your claims.
Hans:
Please provide examples where that actually happened. Not the oddball one-off, but where 100% mail in voting actually resulted in a consistent increase in voter participation.
Another point I would like to stress, Hans.
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I do not want more voters. I want more INFORMED voters. And, I recognize there is no way to actually test the voter to determine if they are informed.
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But, actually taking time out of their day to go to a polling place, stand in line, and fill in a ballot tells me that the voters have some idea of what they are doing, and who they are voting for.
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On the other hand, when a ballot shows up in the mail, unrequested, it may get more people voting, but for who?… and more importantly why that candidate?
How many candidates get elected because the mail in voter sees more of their signs on their commute home, or they have the snappiest music in their TV/radio ads? Advertising works, otherwise no one would know which car brand is the “ultimate driving machine.” and what carbonated beverage “is the real thing.”
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No more mail in voting. Ever. The test of requiring the voter to take physical action to vote is a good test to ensure they have an interest in the candidate they vote for.
We deserve what we get when we can’t be bothered to vote.
Agree with all comments above so won’t repeat 😁. I will add lazy and selfish to the list though. Selfish meaning “my ‘me’ time is far more important than any civic responsibility”. Another thought is more reflection on the failure of our education system as obviously there is not concept of civics.
Weird how no one wants to address the real problem and admit how broken our elections are from funding, to voter rolls, to counting, to mail in, to machines, etc. and just want to focus on voting harder. Let’s be honest: low turnout is the final result of people losing faith in the system.
People have stopped believing that who they elect will make a difference. Consider Yundt, who spoke about his supposedly conservative beliefs to no end, to get himself elected. Then, literally the first thing he does when un office is to try and initiate a new tax. We elect these so-called conservatives who then become voting liberals as soon as they get to Juneau! It’s no wonder voters have so little confidence.
Seems like something is a little off here? 7.18% of the people in Palmer Voted?
What does it mean if you find yourself ideologically aligned with people who don’t care enough about their community to participate in local electoral democracy, yet have really strong opinions about how it should be done in California and Florida?
Why would you let degenerates and deviants rule over you and educate your children? Do you have no honor?
Why do you want to live on your knees conservatives?
Why vote? If the people don’t vote the way they want, they just change the results.
Compare Palmers turnout for national elections, and that for the locals. Now, give me a Venn diagram of the politicians that push for looser voter ID laws and mail in voting compared to the ones who say the local elections need to be a different day then the national. I will bet it approaches a perfect circle.
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Wonder why? No, neither do I.
How many of those 367 are union members and getting paid to vote, vs. just voting their ideology?
Libs love the low turnout, even though they preach voter turnout.
The low turnout allows our public “servants” to rule the day
And this liberal Mayor will sign the employment contracts of those “servants’
Everybody’s happy (except the residents who don’t vote)
Palmer is the Portland of the Matsu