On a desolate slab of island tundra in western Alaska, a resident of Adak will again become the last American to cast an in-person ballot for president, continuing a 12-year tradition for the nation's westernmost community. The honor of having the last voter in the nation fell to Adak when they did away with absentee-only voting for the 2012 election and added in-person voting, per the AP. "People have a little bit of fun on that day because, I mean, realistically everybody knows the election's decided way before we're closed," said city manager Layton Lockett. "But, you know, it's still fun." When polls close in Adak, it's 1am on the East Coast.
Adak Island, midway in the Aleutian Island chain and bordered by the Bering Sea to the north and the North Pacific Ocean to the south, is closer to Russia than mainland Alaska. The island best known as a former World War II military base and later naval station is 1,200 miles southwest of Anchorage and further west than Hawaii, where polls close an hour earlier. There are US territories farther west than Alaska, but there's no process in the Electoral College to allow residents in Guam, the northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, and the US Minor Outlying Islands to vote for president, according to the National Archives.
Mary Nelson became Adak's first "last voter" in a presidential election, in the 2012 race. Nelson, who now lives in Washington state, recalled to the AP by telephone that she was a poll worker in Adak at the time and had forgotten to vote until just before the 8pm poll closing time. "When I opened the (voting booth's) curtain to come back out, the city manager took my picture and announced that I was the last person in Adak to vote," she said. "I've been tickled pink and told people about it," said Nelson, now 73. "I have the story I printed out about it and show some people who I think would think it's a big deal, like my family," she said. Read the full story.
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