KODIAK, Alaska (AP) – Many Kodiak residents were a bit confused when they received election pamphlets urging them, “Bumoto!”
The pamphlets for four ballot initiatives being decided Aug. 26 were in Filipino after an apparent mix-up at the printers.
The error was discovered when a resident called Alaska’s Division of Elections looking for an English version.
Division of Elections spokeswoman Shelly Growden told KMXT-FM radio that she expects pamphlets printed in English to be in voters’ mailboxes sometime next week.
Meanwhile, both English and Filipino versions of the pamphlet are available on the division’s website.
The Kodiak Daily Mirror website quoted Growden as saying federal law requires the Division of Elections “to provide language assistance to Filipino voters in Kodiak,” except that the English pamphlet is supposed to be in mail first before the Filipino version.
About 14 percent of Kodiak Island Borough residents are Filipino, the website said, citing data from the US Census Bureau.