Alaskans are sitting back right now and saying, "Holy smokes! What just happened in our Senatorial race?" What just happened is most Alaskans didn't show up to vote and less than 10 percent of us decided the future of Alaska on Aug. 24.
Last week on a road trip down the Alaska Highway I overheard one of those conversations that frequently happen in a good "greasy spoon." The cook and a local truck driver were angry they lived in a country where, in their words, 51 percent of Americans can tell the other 49 percent how to live. As I have spent the better part of the last two years learning, often it's best to just listen. However faulty their logic, it does underline how few of us really decide our state's future -- as we witnessed last week in our primary election.
So why should Alaskans be concerned? Because just 9.6 percent of voters may have determined the fate of Alaska for the next six years. As it stands right now 47,027 out of a 487,456 registered Alaskan voters showed up at the polls to decide who will represent Alaska in the US Senate -- the most important legislative body in the land -- while the rest of Alaska stayed home. And when you consider the composition of Alaska's voter registration -- 25 percent Republican, 15 percent Democrat, but, more importantly, 54 percent non-partisan or undeclared, who really showed up at the polls and do they represent Alaska?
As a state we have always relied heavily on our senators since Alaska has only one voice, albeit a loud one, in the House of Representatives.
I hold a deep reverence for Senator Stevens and the foundational accomplishments he made for our state, but in 2008 Alaska began to build its next dream team in the U.S. Senate. Both Senators Murkowski and Begich are bright, hard working, young, and politically moderate. They show the world the top notch people we raise in Alaska. They had already developed a good ability to work together, and since one was a Republican and one a Democrat, Alaska would be well served no matter which party is in power.
Some readers may recall I recently withdrew from the race for governor.
I did so because I could see I wasn't going to be able to convince enough liberal Democratic voters I shared all of their views -- they were right, I don't, I'm a moderate. I can't tell you how many voters told me on the campaign trail they didn't vote for the party, they voted for the person -- me too. In fact, those 54 percent of Alaska registered voters in the middle are moderate too, but under our system, those voters don't really get to weigh in until the extremes of each party have had their say in the primary.
Six years is a long time. Just stop to think what Ted Stevens -- a leader who really did serve Alaskans in the middle, got done in that time once he reached the Appropriations Committee. Lisa Murkowski is the sixth most powerful Republican senator after just a little over six years. This is the Alaska way -- we understand how critical it is to our success that our congressional delegation gains seniority through reelection. Joe Miller's quixotic platform to take Denali National Park under state ownership, to privatize Social Security, or eliminate the Department of Education will do nothing to advance Alaska's agenda.
Only 28 percent of registered voters bothered to show up to vote in the August 24th primary elections, 72 percent did not -- you know who you are. Yep, life is busy and sometimes showing up on a specific Tuesday to vote is a hard thing, but in Alaska we can both vote early and absentee. When we don't show up we allow, in the case of the senate race less than 10 percent of the voters to decide our state's future, our futures, and most importantly, Alaska's next generation's future.
Shame on us.
Bob Poe had a 28-year career in both the Alaska private and public sectors, including serving four governors in top posts at the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, Alaska Energy Authority, Alaska Department of Transportation and Alaska International Trade. He ran as a Democrat in the 2010 gubernatorial election, dropping out before the primary. His views are his own.
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