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The State of Alaska is advertising for pollworkers in the tiny Yukon River community of Stevens Village after receiving no votes (or ballots, or anything) at all in the 2018 primary. The Juneau Empire has more:

The Alaska Division of Elections is seeking poll workers in a Yukon River village that failed to turn in any ballots for the August statewide primary.

Stevens Village, which has 76 registered voters, failed to return its election packet to the Alaska Division of Elections following the Aug. 21 vote. Division officials still do not know how many residents voted in the primary or what their votes were. The election was certified Sept. 4 without results from Stevens Village.

“Aside from flying there, there’s not really much we can do,” division spokeswoman Samantha Miller said by phone.

State officials aren’t sure what happened, but a lack of primary contests may have been a factor:

Stevens Village is in House District 6, but there were no contested district-level primary races, so the absence of votes from the village did not affect primary-election results.

Miller said she is not certain what caused the failure. Asked whether the division has replaced the workers behind the primary, she said, “we’re trying to recruit right now.”

The state is actively recruiting, including on Twitter, for individuals to staff the polls:

This is an extreme version of the recruiting challenges that many localities face – but it’s rare that a community will have no one. Here’s hoping that someone(s) step up and that Stevens Village will be able to participate on Election Day 2018. Bundle up – and stay tuned …

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