FIFTH OPENING – The Sitka seine boats Hukilau and Rose Lee pump herring aboard this afternoon at the end of Deep Inlet during the fifth opening in the Sitka Sound sac roe herring fishery. The opening was being held in two locations beginning at 11 a.m. (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson)
By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Staff Writer
The future of management and operations at the Perform [ ... ]
By Sentinel Staff
The Sitka Sound commercial herring sac roe fishery continued today with open [ ... ]
By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Sports Editor
After storming into the state 3A boys basketball brac [ ... ]
By Sentinel Staff
The Queen Bees’ spotless season record ended Tuesday night with a 2-1 loss [ ... ]
By SHIRLEY SNEVE
Indian Country Today
A major renovation at an Alaska museum to attract tourist [ ... ]
By CLAIRE STREMPLE
Alaska Beacon
A presentation about a jump in the number of inmate deaths in [ ... ]
By NATHANIEL HERZ
Northern Journal
Tribal and environmental advocates calling for a crackdown o [ ... ]
Police Blotter
Sitka police received the following calls by 8 a.m. today:
March 26
At 2:10 p.m. a man e [ ... ]
Big Rigs Sought
For April 13
The 3 to 5 Preschool’s spring fundraiser and Big Rig event is happening [ ... ]
By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
The city’s reassessment of taxable real estate, alo [ ... ]
By Sentinel Staff
The third opening in this year’s Sitka Sound sac roe herring fishery was held Mon [ ... ]
By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Sports Editor
Sitka High’s Lady Wolves bounced back from an openi [ ... ]
By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel ports Editor
Competing in the state 3A basketball tournament in Anc [ ... ]
By Sentinel Staff
Playing in a competitive division City League volleyball game Monday evening [ ... ]
By JAMES BROOKS
Alaska Beacon
A bill that passed the Alaska House of Representatives on Monday [ ... ]
By NATHANIEL HERZ
Northern Journal
Gus Schumacher, the Anchorage Olympic cross-country skier, a [ ... ]
By CLAIRE STREMPLE
Alaska Beacon
Alaska’s rural schools are on track to access faster interne [ ... ]
By YERETH ROSEN
Alaska Beacon
In the language of the Gwich’in people of northeastern Alaska, [ ... ]
Police Blotter
Sitka police received the following calls by 8 a.m. today:
March 25
At 7:48 a.m. a calle [ ... ]
Vietnam-Era Vets
Invited to Lunch,
Commemoration
American Legion Post 13 will host a luncheon 1-3 p.m. [ ... ]
By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Staff Writer
The 2024 Sitka Sound sac roe herring fishery got under [ ... ]
By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
The Assembly will start the annual process of determi [ ... ]
By Sentinel Staff
Competing in the 3A state championship title basketball game Saturday, the M [ ... ]
By Sentinel Staff
Playing through the afternoon Sunday, City League volleyball teams faced off [ ... ]
Daily Sitka Sentinel
Alaska Democrats Plan New Primary System
JUNEAU (AP) — The Alaska Democratic Party is preparing to debut a new voting system for its upcoming presidential primary, officials said.
The April 4 primary will use a ranked-choice, vote-by-mail system, The Anchorage Daily News reported Monday.
The new system will not have the problems that plagued Iowa’s first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses, Alaska Democratic Party Executive Director Lindsay Kavanaugh said.
A significant change is the decision to drop the caucus system, which the state party used in 2016.
“They’re a fairly antiquated method of determining presidential preference,” she said.
Presidential primaries are run by the party, rather than the state, and operate under different rules from the Aug. 18 state primary or the Nov. 3 general election.
Alaskans complained in 2016 about overcrowding, long waits and the inaccessibility of the existing system for picking presidential candidates.
State Democrats have moved to a mailed ballot after proposing and discarding a plan for smartphone voting.
Registered Democrats will be mailed ballots starting March 6 and have until March 24 to mail them to a central counting location in Anchorage.
The mailed ballot should be accessible to many more of the state’s 75,000 registered Democrats, Kavanaugh said.
The party is planning for 20,000 or more participants compared to the 10,610 Democrats who participated in 2016 caucus meetings.
The ranked-choice ballot will ask state Democrats to list candidate choices in order of preference. When a candidate receives less than 15% of the overall result, the votes of those who made that candidate their top pick will be transferred to their second choice.
Iowa Democrats attempted to modernize their caucuses with an ill-fated smartphone application.
The Alaska party will use 45 in-person voting locations before the ballots are transported in sealed bins to Anchorage, rather than scanning the ballots and sending the results electronically.
“All of the ballots will be coming back to Anchorage in some form,” said Wigi Tozzi, the Democratic Party state primary director.
Tozzi and Kavanaugh declined to name the firm hired to assist with the election, citing security concerns.
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20 YEARS AGO
March 2004
Matthew C. Hunter of Sitka recently returned from Cuba as part of a St. Olaf College International and Off-Campus Studies program. Hunter, a junior physics major at St. Olaf College, is the son of Robert and Kim Hunter of Sitka.
50 YEARS AGO
March 1974
Eighth graders have returned from a visit to Juneau to see the Legislature. They had worked for it since Christmas vacation ... Clarice Johnson’s idea of a “White Elephant” sales was chosen as the best money-maker; Joe Roth won the political cartoon assignment; highest government test scorers were Ken Armstrong, Joanna Hearn, Linda Montgomery, Lisa Henry, Calvin Taylor and David Licari .....