Today, Alaskans for Citizen Voting announced the submission of nearly 50,000 signatures in support of its citizen-led ballot petition to the Alaska Division of Elections. The petition asks for a voter qualification law that requires every voter to be a citizen of the United States. It also reaffirms previous Alaska law requirements for voting.
The full proposal states:
Only a person who (1) is a citizen of the United States; (2) is 18 years of age or older; (3) has been a resident of the state and of the house district in which the person seeks to vote for at least 30 days just before the election; and (4) has registered before the election as required under AS 15.07 and is not registered to vote in another jurisdiction may vote at any election.
State Senator John Coghill (Fairbanks), State Representative Mike Chenault (Kenai), and State Senator Josh Revak (Anchorage) sponsored the initiative. The sponsors commented on the common sense driving the initiative.
Sen. John Coghill stated, “The framers of our state’s constitution intended that the voting privilege should be granted only to U.S. citizens. Recent actions in other states require Alaska to clarify our law. The response during the signature collection phase shows that many Alaskans agree.”
According to Rep. Mike Chenault: “This is common sense and consistent with what most Alaskans believe is already the law. We intend to make it clear.”
Sen. Josh Revak emphasized, “The right to vote is central to our democracy. As a veteran and the husband of an immigrant who became a citizen, I believe we must protect the value of citizenship.”
Alaskans for Citizen Voting expects the petition to be certified within 60 days. Alaskans will vote on the initiative during the 2026 general election in November.
The manager at the Carrs on Northern lights and mulldoon will be angry. She’ll need to remove her unconstitutional sign.
Unconstitutional? Are you kidding me? It’s private property. Get a grip!
I saw you there looking for signatures for a petition after they politely asked you to stop harassing people coming into the store and leave. You refused to do so forcing them to put up those signs. I thought citizens were supposed to respect the laws. Constitution protects you both. You both should also have mutual respect.
Voter ID!!! Logical, sensible, responsible, necessary.
Wait…
Non-citizens can vote in Alaska under the current laws?
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What the…
No wonder people have zero confidence in the election results.
they cannot. It is already in both federal statutes and state statutes that non citizens cannot vote in any election for any local, state or federal elections.
this is just a red herring to get tougher voter id laws, when the current laws do a great job of stopping non citizens from voting.
It is solution in search of a problem, not a problem in search of a solution.
It is like preventative maintenance for your car. Before your engine locks up, you change the oil ahead of time.
Before we have an issue with illegals votes being cast, we take preventative measure to keep it from happening. Not a red herring as you would call it, but proactive protection for citizens of this country.
The laws on the books say that non-citizens cannot cast a valid ballot and it is a crime to do so.
What new law will prevent this from happening when the current law already makes it illegal?
The state is already prosecuting a couple from American Samoa (a US Territory) because they voted in local/state elections. They aren’t US citizens, they are instead US nationals. How will this new law stop them? They have US passports, REAL IDs, and other documents but they cannot vote in US elections.
Aren’t conservatives more in favor of smaller government? This is a duplicate law that just feeds the outrage machine of both the left and right
They are not conservatives, they are ideologues that will do anything to
stay in power, they are cowards that don’t believe in American ideals whatsoever. Basically they should all move to Russia and embrace their boy Putin.
I have to disagree with the preventative maintenance analogy.
It is more like you have a cut, so you put a band-aid on it. Then you cover that band-aid with another one.
The second band-aid does nothing, it is a waste of resources and time to use it.
Depends on the magnitude of the cut.
Frankly, I want tougher voter ID laws. Sorry, but showing a utility bill does not prove identity.
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And, how, exactly do the current laws stop non-citizens from voting? Do the current laws stop drivers from speeding? Do the current laws stop murderers from killing? Do the laws stop thieves from stealing?
What law is so well written that it stops a crime before it happens?
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If this gets the voter registrations cleaned up, and it gives the poll workers the authority to turn away voters who cannot prove their identity, I am all for it. No red herring here in my book.
No, they can’t. The law already requires that people be US citizens. This is a solution looking for a problem.
I happily signed this petition at the ENL / Seward Highway Carr’s a few months ago. Even if it isn’t legal today, casting in concrete should solidify the criterion and preclude the Anchorage Assembly from doing anything even more stupid than they already have.
A duplicate law doesn’t cement anything. It just makes 50,000 Alaskans look like gullible suckers.
Who do we contact to get invited in helping with that process?
Coghill is a former state senator. He was deemed a RINO by the MRAK crowd and drummed out in a primary.
Here are the current requirements from the DOE web page.
1. You are a United States citizen.
2. Are 18 years of age or older.
3. Have been a resident of the state and of the election district that you seek to vote for at least 30 days before an election.
4. Have registered to vote on or before the registration deadline; and are not registered to vote in any other jurisdiction.
I wish I had been able to sign this petition.
It is stunning we even have to do this. Immense thanks to those who did the work on this proposal. I was not even aware this was going on.
Isn’t it incredible the we have to defend citizen-only rights for the privilege to vote in an Alaskan election. Cheating Democrats would have it so any foreigner can vote in OUR elections to disenfranchise American citizen voters.
It is already against the law, and the State of Alaska is prosecuting a couple who live in Whittier but are US Nationals from American Samoa for illegally voting.
They have US Passports, REAL IDs and other documents, but are not allowed to vote as they are not US citizens.
How does this new law do anything more than the current laws already do? This is a solution for an alleged problem that already has a solution on the books.
That is because there are American and Western Samoa.! American Samoa is a nationalist and not a citizen.! No, they can’t vote because even though they can live in the USA they can’t vote like other territories because they were not granted citizenship like Guam etc
They would have to apply for citizenship.’
Exactly my point.
What will this new law do that the old laws don’t already?
Under current law, these folks are being prosecuted for illegally voting. A new law making the same thing illegal that is already illegal will do nothing more.
Again, I wrote it above, this new law is like putting a bandage on top of another bandage for a cut/injury. It does absolutely nothing, it is redundant
I’m All in!!
It is truly a sad state affairs when we need a petition to get something like this on the ballot in the next election. Under democrats, up has become down, black has become white, right has become wrong. This has my vote.
AS 15.05.010(1)
You must be a citizen to vote in an election in Alaska.
I’m starting a petition that makes it illegal to drive over the speeding limit. Its already illegal, but if I include the words “non-white” in it, I can get 50,000 idiots to sign it!
Just common sense to ensure we keep our elections free and legal.
I signed.
This is just plain dumb and a complete waste of money. It’s already a law that only citizens can vote.
Read Peter Schwieger’s new book, “Invisible Coup.” A very compelling read. Chinese couples who live in the US, have babies, then return to China, take their “American Citizen” babies with them. After 20 years of communist indoctrination, those babies, now adults, return to the US as citizens to study in college and then work in the US. Ready made spies for Communist China. Chilling.