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Voting a family, friendly affair for Juneau voters considering change for education and economy
Local residents, like national voters, tended to favor Democrats in races for governor, Congress
By Jasz Garrett
Juneau Independent
Juneau voters largely said supporting education was a top priority for them when choosing candidates on Tuesday, echoing thoughts expressed by residents in the Alaska primary election.
Lily Hope accompanied her son for his first time voting in a general election at the Douglas Public Library at about 4 p.m. She said she voted for gubernatorial candidate Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins.
“I believe he’s going to do the best job to get us back on track,” she said. “I think the education part is the biggest part that led me toward JKT. Fully funding our education department — pay our teachers what they’re worth and get us fully funded so we can do the necessary work of raising strong kids.”
She said certainty and adequate support are needed for Alaska teachers and children.
“Just keep our teachers well paid and keep our kids in school,” she said.
Her son Nicholas Hope, 18, encouraged his peers to vote.
Chanda Lawless, also voting in Douglas, said funding education and cost of living were at the top of her mind as she cast her ballot.
Another mother-son duo, Christine Ermold and Luke Ermold, 21, were also passionate about education in Alaska. But Christine Ermold had a different approach, focusing on the three Republican gubernatorial candidates and where they each stood on funding public schools.
“As someone who absolutely tends to vote down the Republican ticket, one of the things that is really significant to me is looking at candidates who are willing to continue to support public education,” she said. “That whole aspect of educating the wide populace so that we have a well-informed electorate, a well-informed voter populace, is huge to me.”
She said she voted for Republican candidates and who she voted for was influenced by her passion for public education.
“Where candidates fell in terms of siphoning off public funds for private education versus where candidates fell in terms of supporting public education was a huge deal for me,” Christine Ermold said.
She said she retired from the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District after 20 years and now works at the University of Alaska Southeast, which brought her to Juneau four years ago.
Her son came home from overseas in May and, while it wasn’t his first time voting, it was his first time casting a ballot in-person. He did so at the Auke Bay Ferry Terminal with his mother at about 6:30 p.m. Luke Ermold was in the U.S. Air Force for four years and was stationed at Royal Air Force Lakenheath in the United Kingdom.
“Who’s going to take care of the troops and what are they actually wanting to do?” he said. “Being in the military, there’s a lot of things you see. People who were neglected and left in bad spots, and especially with mental health issues there’s funding for it and there’s support, but there’s not enough.”
“A big thing that I saw at the base I was at was the mental health clinic was always overrun. People who truly needed help were never able to get it because they just couldn’t get an appointment. So people who take care of the troops and who really want to support them — that’s what I look for because a lot of my close friends are still struggling.”
His mother said incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, consistently looks at issues related to service members.
Luke Ermold said voting from overseas was possible, but complicated by a general lack of awareness on how to do so.
“The USO (United Service Organizations) did a lot, actually, trying to help educate everybody and tell everyone that you can vote from overseas and it is possible and does get through,” he said. “And there were delays and lines. It was difficult, but doable. I think the knowledge just needed to be more widespread throughout a lot of troops because a lot of people just didn’t know. They’re getting too sucked into work that they just never really heard about it.”
He said it felt good to come out in person on Election Day.
“Growing up, one of the polling stations were at the schools where his dad and I were principals, and so he would come with us and we would vote, and he’d hang out,” his mother said. “And so getting to vote with you as an adult is super cool. Makes my heart joyful.”
Laura Klingman and her partner Paul Brown both said they voted for Senate Democratic candidate Mary Peltola and canvassed for her. Klingman is a federal worker and archaeologist. She said she spoke on behalf of her personal beliefs and her vote did not represent her workplace.
“I very much decided that I needed to vote for people who are going to help protect our federal lands — and my job, to be completely honest,” she said outside the Douglas library. “I’m not born and raised a Democrat. I was raised Republican, and through time and compassion and working for public lands and public spaces, I very much have grown into a Democrat. I voted for the people who I thought were going to be good for the Alaskan people and for Alaska.”
Klingman said she has been a federal employee since 2022 and moved to Alaska for the job. She said the decision has heavily influenced her life, including a belief access to public lands is important. Klingman added she also voted for independent U.S. House candidate Bill Hill.
“I could not vote for a party that wants to inappropriately and illegally gut federal agencies without any kind of forethought on that process whatsoever,” she said.
Brown said he chose to vote for Peltola because he wanted to see Democrats seize control of Congress.
“There’s been no counter to Trump and what he’s doing and all that so yeah, was not a hard choice to vote for Mary,” he said.
Brown said he is not sure if Peltola will be able to stop “insider trading in Congress,” as her campaign has said, but hopes it will happen if she wins.
“A Republican just seems to generally lean towards letting private industry do whatever they want with very little compensation for the citizens,” he said.
Both said they enjoy public lands for hiking, fishing, camping and cross-country skiing.
“I felt some of the Democratic leaning and Democratic candidates, they often talked about the individual Alaskan and not just what is good for the whole state of Alaska, but what actually will help benefit the everyday person that lives here,” Klingman said, adding that protecting subsistence is important. She and Brown said they support ranked-choice voting.
At Alaska Electric Light & Power in Lemon Creek, Ella Sapinoso held her grandmother’s hand as they left the polling station in heavy rain. Both immigrated from the Philippines in the early 2000’s and became naturalized U.S. citizens.
“I’m glad that there’s more precincts that are available and that it was super seamless. Like my grandma here, English isn’t her first language, so they were super helpful teaching her how to fill out voter registration,” she said.
Renee Hughes has been the poll chair at the AEL&P precinct for over 30 years. She said it’s the people she volunteers with and voters she meets that keep her coming back.
“I have people that I know from the very first time who come to vote here still,” she said, adding Election Day brings together neighbors and friends who may not have seen each other in a while.
Mary Uyanik said Election Day brings together her family. After voting with her son at AEL&P, she was headed to the Mendenhall Valley so other family members could vote in their precinct. Uyanik said she voted with family in mind.
“Since I started voting when I was young, I always thought of my kids first. My son, it’s his first time voting today, so it’s a big deal for our family to vote,” she said. “My parents taught us at a young age to vote, and I mainly think of my family when it comes to voting.”
She said the topics that came to her mind were education, Alaska Native rights and a subsistence lifestyle.
“Even though I never lived in a village, I think of how they depend on subsistence,” she said. “My parents grew up in Petersburg and Sitka, but I grew up here. I’ve also been learning more about how up north they depend on subsistence and their groceries cost even more than ours.”
She said high prices are out of control, making it important to vote. Uyanik and other voters on Tuesday said the flood of political calls and texts almost dissuaded them from voting this year, but they decided to vote anyway because it's a civic duty.
When asked if anything struck her different about this year, Hughes said each election is important.
“They’re all historical,” she said. “Each has their significant challenges and different issues. It doesn’t matter if it was 50 years ago or today.”
She and the other volunteers were taking a short dinner break after 5:30 p.m. and thanked AEL&P for the use of their kitchen.
Poll workers took a similar breather after a lunch rush at the State Office Building, but it didn’t compare to turnout on previous days.
“It’s been steady and coming in waves,” said Abby O’Brien, a poll worker. “I think a lot of people came at early voting.”
O’Brien, working the polls for the first time, said she was one of those people. She voted early at the Mendenhall Mall Annex on Sunday and spent an hour in line. She said she arrived at the State Office Building at 6:30 a.m. on Tuesday and would be there until 8 p.m., when polls closed. She said she was expecting another rush when people got off work.
“It’s a fascinating process,” O’Brien said about why she wanted to be a poll worker. “I was interested in seeing the mechanics of it all and being visible out in the community to help.”
More than 30 people were in line at the State Office Building after the voting station closed on Monday, the last day of early voting.
The steady stream of people with a few surges was a common observation held by poll workers at precincts across Juneau on Election Day.
Ryan Wilson, precinct chair at the State Office Building, said 416 people had cast Election Day ballots as of about 7:30 p.m. Only a few additional voters arrived before the polls closed.
“It never got busy,” he said, estimating twice as many people cast in-person votes during the primary election on Aug. 18.
View a developing story on election results here.
• Contact Jasz Garrett at jasz@juneauindependent.com or 907-723-9356.
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