435 | How Alaska is Punishing American Samoans for Believing They Had the Right to Vote w/Alex Burness
435 | How Alaska is Punishing American Samoans for Believing They Had the Right to Vote w/Alex Burness  
Podcast: Public Defenseless
Published On: Wed Jan 21 2026
Description: Today, Hunter was joined by Alex Burness of Bolts Magazine to discuss his recent piece of reporting on American Samoans in Alaska. Specifically, Alex walks us through the history that gave American Samoans passports, social security numbers, but no right to vote. From there, Alex tells the story of a small American Samoan community that is facing decades in prison for voting when everyone thought they had the right to.   Guest: Alex Burness, Staff Writer, Bolts Magazine   Resources:   Read the Piece Here https://boltsmag.org/prosecuted-for-voting-american-samoans-alaska/ Contact Alex https://boltsmag.org/authors/alex-burness/       Contact Hunter Parnell:                                 Publicdefenseless@gmail.com  Instagram @PublicDefenselessPodcast Twitter                                                                 @PDefenselessPod www.publicdefenseless.com  Subscribe to the Patreon www.patreon.com/PublicDefenselessPodcast  Donate on PayPal https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=5KW7WMJWEXTAJ Donate on Stripe https://donate.stripe.com/7sI01tb2v3dwaM8cMN Trying to find a specific part of an episode? Use this link to search transcripts of every episode of the show! https://app.reduct.video/o/eca54fbf9f/p/d543070e6a/share/c34e85194394723d4131/home