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Qaillun Yugtun Cucuklilleq Ayuqeciqa Allamiku? What Will Yup'ik Voting Look Like Next Year?

Voters cast ballots in the Bethel City Elections at the Bethel Cultural Center on Oct. 4, 2016.
Katie Basile
/
KYUK

How will Alaska Native citizens whose primary language is not English and who have limited ability to read and write be able to use mail-in ballots? That’s one of the question being delved into today, Thursday, August 24, when the Alaska Advisory Committee of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights meets in Anchorage.

The hearing comes after a landmark case won by Alaska Natives asserting that election materials discriminated against them because they were not in their Native languages.

The committee will review what’s been done since that court decision, and the potential impact of mail-in voting on Alaska Native Voting Rights.

The issue is muddied by the Supreme Court’s 2013 decision striking down parts of the 1965 Voting Rights Act and removing, at least for now, a requirement that the Federal government needs to approve any election law changes before they can go into effect.  

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Johanna Eurich's vivid broadcast productions have been widely heard on National Public Radio since 1978. She spent her childhood speaking Thai, then learned English as a teenager and was educated at a dance academy, boarding schools and with leading intellectuals at her grandparents' dinner table in Philadelphia.