Remote Alaskan villagers say Murkowski’s core argument against voter ID is simply wrong.
Senator Lisa Murkowski has spent months opposing the SAVE America Act with a single geographic claim: that rural Alaskans would be forced to fly 800 miles to Anchorage just to obtain an ID. It sounds like a serious logistical concern. Residents of the very communities she cites say it is not accurate.
James O’Keefe traveled to Unalaska, one of the remote island communities Murkowski invokes to oppose the legislation. He asked a local DMV employee whether residents would need to travel to Anchorage to register to vote or get an ID. The answer was no. Local options already exist. The foundation of Murkowski’s argument collapsed at the first question.
As originally reported, Turning Point USA’s Frontlines series dispatched journalist Jonathan Choe to Savoonga, another remote Alaskan village, to speak with residents directly. Ben Pungowiyi acknowledged that flying to Anchorage would be a hardship, but then identified the most straightforward solution available: mail the ID cards to residents. He pointed out that the Post Office is typically the only federal building in these villages, and that mail already reaches them reliably.
A second Savoonga resident, Michael Wongittilin, added that everyone in his community already holds voter registration cards, meaning they have cleared the documentation barrier Murkowski has framed as nearly impossible to overcome. He said he does not see how the SAVE America Act would hurt his neighbors.
Savoonga’s mayor, Sylvia Toolie, confirmed the village has no local DMV but noted that mobile and traveling DMV services have been proposed as a workable solution. She then said something that cuts directly at Murkowski’s position: that Murkowski herself has expressed support for mobile DMVs, but that backers of the SAVE America Act have been blocking that option.
That claim does not hold up. The SAVE America Act contains nothing that prohibits mobile DMV programs, mail-based ID delivery, traveling registration services, or any other accommodation designed to help rural residents. The law requires proof of citizenship when registering to vote. It does not dictate how states must provide access to documents.
Murkowski once supported voter ID requirements. That is on record. What shifted her to become the most visible Republican opponent of the SAVE America Act remains unexplained.
The residents of the remote Alaskan communities she has cited as justification for her opposition do not recognize the problem she is describing. Two separate journalists traveled to those communities and found the same thing. Local officials, DMV workers, and ordinary villagers all told versions of the same story: the 800-mile claim does not reflect reality on the ground.
Murkowski faces reelection in 2028. The voters she has placed at the center of this debate are watching, and so far, they are not confirming her version of events.