Opinion ID: 2607238
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Prudhoe Bay Absentee Voting Station

Text: The State decided in August 1994 to close the Prudhoe Bay absentee voting station, citing a decrease in transient population which no longer justified the cost of sending election workers to Prudhoe Bay and renting space to operate the absentee voting station. The State requested preclearance from the United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division before it closed the absentee voting station. The Department of Justice replied that it had no objections to the closure. The State notified the oil extraction employers in the area that the station would be closed and trained these employers to assist voters in registering and distributing absentee ballot applications. The day before the November 8 election, the Director of Elections decided to open the Prudhoe Bay absentee voting station after receiving several phone calls requesting that it be opened. The Director of Elections sent two election workers to the voting station on election day. The Division originally intended that the voting station would operate on November 8 until 5:00 p.m., but at 4:30 p.m., after consulting with the Division of Elections, the on-site election workers decided to extend the voting station's hours until 8:00 p.m. to accommodate voters who had been waiting in a two to three hour waiting line. Approximately seventy-five people voted at the voting station between 5:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m., and the wait was reduced significantly by 7:30 p.m. A total of 308 people voted at the station. Contestants argue that the Division of Elections' last minute decision to open the station created a two to three hour waiting period, raising a question of how many Prudhoe Bay workers wanted to vote but did not vote or could not vote due to the unreasonable wait imposed by the State. Contestants offer no evidence that voters could not vote because of the long wait, but do provide affidavits of two Prudhoe Bay workers who affied that they did not vote because they were unwilling to endure the hours-long waiting period. The State argues that the Director of Elections is given the authority to designate and supervise voting stations and that the Director properly exercised this discretion both in deciding to close the Prudhoe Bay station and in directing the station's operation on election day. We have never held that an unreasonable wait at an absentee voting station, in itself, can be considered election malconduct. Nor do Contestants cite any cases to support this proposition. Moreover, it does not appear that the wait at the absentee voting station resulted from a lack of training or from the fact that the Director of Elections' decision to reopen the absentee voting station was made at the last minute, or that it was otherwise unreasonable. The Director of Elections was not required to reopen the absentee voting station at Prudhoe Bay. AS 15.20.045(b). [18] As noted above, the State had decided to close the Prudhoe Bay voting station before the August primary and had trained Prudhoe Bay employers to assist voters in registering and distributing absentee ballot applications. The affidavit of Mark Humphrey, submitted by Contestants, provides evidence that voters at Prudhoe Bay were aware that the Director of Elections had previously decided not to operate the Prudhoe Bay absentee voting station. Contestants do not allege that any voter was unable to obtain, complete, or return absentee ballots by mail before the election. The State made considerable efforts to insure that Prudhoe Bay voters were aware well before election day that they would need to vote by mail. The State offered evidence that decisions of the Division of Elections to reverse its original course and open the absentee voting station, and then to extend the station's hours, were made in good faith and were intended to accommodate, and in fact did accommodate, voters who would not have been able to vote because they had failed to return absentee ballots by mail. AS 15.20.081. Contestants have offered no facts creating a genuine fact dispute about those matters. Furthermore, although the decision to open the station was made only the day before the election, Contestants do not allege that an earlier decision would have alleviated the wait on election day. Nor is there any evidence that the election workers were inadequately trained or unable to perform their duties. To the contrary, one of the employers which had requested that the absentee voting station be opened wrote to the Division of Elections commending the election workers. The letter noted the hard work of the Division staff, and thanked the Division for setting up the voting station on such short notice. The employer stated that everyone I spoke with was happy they were able to vote. In the context of an absentee voting station and under the facts presented by both parties, the good-faith operation of the Prudhoe Bay station is not malconduct even though voters had a long wait. See Hammond v. Hickel, 588 P.2d at 259 (evidence of an election official's good faith may preclude a finding of malconduct under certain circumstances) (citing Turkington, 380 P.2d at 595).