A resident of a small Alaska island will become the last American to vote for Donald Trump or Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election.
Adak Island, which is closer to Russia than mainland Alaska, has recorded its last in-person voting since eliminating absentee voting in the 2012 election.
Polls are open on the island from 7am to 8pm (HST), which means it will be 1am on the East Coast when the last vote is cast.
The island, best known as a former World War II military base and later a naval station, is located 1,200 miles southwest of Anchorage and farther west than Hawaii, where polls close an hour early.
“People have a little fun that day because, I mean, realistically, everyone knows how decided the election is long before we close,” said City Manager Layton Lockett. “But, you know, it’s still fun.”
Adak Island (pictured), off the coast of Alaska, will be home to the last American to vote in the 2024 presidential election.
There are U.S. territories farther west than Alaska, but there is no Electoral College process that allows residents of Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa and the U.S. Minor Outlying Islands to vote for president, according to the National Archives. .
It is unknown who was the last person in Adak to vote in 2020. But the island’s votes are counted with those of the state of Alaska, where Donald Trump won the last election.
The 2020 census recorded 171 residents in Adak, but Lockett said the number is likely now down to fewer than 50 full-time residents.
“I’m not sure who will be the last voter this year,” said Jana Lekanoff, Adak’s town clerk. ‘Maybe it will be some kind of competition?’
In 2012, Mary Nelson was the last American to vote on election night because she was a poll worker in Adak at the time and had forgotten to cast her vote until shortly before polls closed at 8 p.m.
“When I opened the (voting booth) curtain to leave, the city manager took my photo and announced that I was the last person in Adak to vote,” he said.
“We had votes to count and they were waiting for us in Nome to call with our vote count.”
The island’s votes are counted with the state of Alaska, where Donald Trump won in the last election.
City Manager Layton Lockett said most of his residents wonder if whoever wins the election will encourage the military to return to Adak.
Adak Island has historical importance following its role in World War II. The United States built facilities on the island after Japanese forces seized islands further west in the Aleutian chain.
Troops landed in August 1942 to begin building a military base, and enemy planes dropped nine bombs on the island two months later.
These landed in undeveloped areas, but the landscape was riddled with machine gun fire.
The Navy began building facilities in January 1943.
In May 1943, around 27,000 combat troops gathered at Adak as a staging point to recapture nearby Attu Island from the Japanese.
After the war, the island was transferred to the Air Force and then to the Navy in 1950.
Nearly 80,000 acres of the 180,000-acre island were set aside for Navy use and the rest of the island remained part of what eventually became the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge.
The base closed in 1997. About 5,600 acres are retained by the Navy and the rest is owned by Aleut Corp., the Alaska Native regional corporation for the area; the city of Adak, or the refuge.
In 2012, when Adak finally switched to voting in person, Mary Nelson (pictured) was the last American to vote on election night.
The island best known as a former World War II military base and later naval station is located 1,200 miles southwest of Anchorage.
The only commercial transportation to the island is through Alaska Airlines. There is no ferry, passenger sea service or any other commercial air service to the island.
Lockett said the city faces tough times with a shrinking population and lack of an economic engine. The town’s fish processing plant has closed numerous times over the years.
The only commercial transportation to the island is through Alaska Airlines. There is no ferry, passenger sea service or any other commercial air service to the island unless chartered, according to the city’s website.
When it comes to politics, Lockett said it’s pretty easy in a small town to know where your neighbors stand politically, but there seems to be one goal that unites everyone.
Is whoever is in office going to try to “encourage the military to return to Adak in some way?” said.
“We’re in the middle of that big moment of what’s next for Adak, because we’re fighting,” Lockett said.
