Correction: An earlier version of this article reversed the definitions of discretionary and directed voting.
Three independents and five board-supported candidates are vying for five open seats on the 13-member Sealaska Corp. board of directors.
Founded in 1972 under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, Sealaska is the regional Native corporation for Southeast Alaska. It has 22,000 shareholders, making it the largest regional Native corporation among the 13 created by ANCSA.
While the corporation’s finances have taken a beating in previous years, it completed a remarkable turnaround in 2017, according to financial records provided by the company. As part of that turnaround, the company posted its first internal profit since 2003.
This year’s board-supported candidates are Barbara Cadiente-Nelson, Albert Kookesh, J. Tate London, Joe Nelson and William (Bill) Thomas.
The independent candidates are Nicole Hallingstad, Edwell John Jr. and Karen Taug.
Each shareholder gets one vote per share per director seat. For example, there are five director seats up for election this year, which means each share is worth five votes. Someone with 100 shares has 500 votes.
Each ballot allows a voter to cast their votes “directed,” “quorum only,” or “discretionary.”
Selecting discretionary voting means a voter hands their votes over to the board to be distributed as they see fit. A quorum-only vote is the equivalent of abstaining from picking any candidates. A voter is simply marked as participating, which matters because making a corporate election official requires a certain amount of participation. Picking directed voting allows a voter to spread his or her votes among the eight candidates as the voter sees fit.
Votes may be cast online through the MySealaska shareholder portal, through the mail, or in person at the annual meeting.
The early bird deadline was June 8. The overall voting deadline is 5 p.m. Thursday, June 21. Results will be announced at Sealaska’s 45th annual meeting, which takes place June 23 in Wrangell.
