Alaskans Back Vote to End Alcohol Ban; Eskimos Wary
A vote in favor of lifting a yearlong alcohol prohibition in Barrow, Alaska, has been certified, but some Inupiat Eskimo leaders say they may file a federal complaint to upend the results.
The Oct. 3 vote underscored racial divisions in Barrow, where non-Eskimos organized to end the liquor ban and some Eskimo leaders who say alcohol has harmed their culture worked to retain it.
The Barrow City Council voted, 4 to 2, on Tuesday to certify the election, which favored alcohol possession by 910 to 834. Barrow went dry a year ago under state law that lets local governments set their own alcohol policy.
“They’ve just gone too far,” said Dorcas Stein, executive director of the Native Village of Barrow, the city’s tribal government. “The Barrow Freedom Committee was comprised mostly of non-Natives,” she said of the anti-prohibition group. “They’re trying to run our town. We in the Native village are defending our people.”
Stein said some voters didn’t understand the English-only ballot while others received poor translations at the polls.
Hans Walker, whose Washington, D.C.-based law firm represents the Native village, said a claim may be pursued under the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which ensures that minority votes are not diluted.
“The question is whether non-English-speaking Inupiats in substantial numbers were unable to vote in an informed way,” Walker said.
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