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7/4/14 KNBA News - State says Alaska Natives turn out for elections in high numbers

Joaqlin Estus
/
Koahnic Broadcasting
At the Alaska Native Heritage Center, Inupiaq artist Ed Mighell tells the story of the sea goddess Sedna to an intern, while displaying some of the tiles he creates.

Testifying in a voters' rights case, Division of Elections Director Gail Fenumiai says villages with sizable populations of limited English speakers beat the state's average turnout in the 2012 Presidential election. However, absentee and early ballots are not counted in turnout numbers. She was testifying in a case in which villages and elders say the state failed to provide complete translations of voting materials into Native languages. The state says it has met legal requirements.  

Artists Noreen George of Tanana and Ed Mighell of Anchorage are two of many artists who are demonstrating their work at the Alaska Native Heritage Center. George describes how caribou tufting is done, and Mighell explains why he gave up civil engineering to make painted and glazed tiles using Cook Inlet clay.