In a move that resonates with President Donald Trump’s emphasis on safeguarding American elections, a new Alaska ballot initiative seeks to explicitly bar non-citizens from voting in state and local races. The “Alaskans for Citizen Voting” (ACV) measure, sponsored by prominent former lawmakers, aims to amend state statutes to clarify that only U.S. citizens meeting age, residency, and registration requirements can cast ballots. This comes amid ongoing national debates over voter integrity, a hallmark of Trump’s tenure.
In 2025, Trump signed an executive order requiring documentary proof of citizenship for voter registration, part of a broader overhaul to enhance election security. This policy aligned with the Republican-backed SAVE Act, which mandates citizenship verification for federal elections and has been adopted in several states to curb perceived vulnerabilities. Critics, including the ACLU, challenged such actions as unconstitutional overreaches, leading to court rulings blocking elements like citizenship proof on federal forms.
Trust in elections is fragile across the country. In Alaska, there is already layered in complexity – ranked choice voting and open primaries – that many voters are still getting used to. Regardless of how Alaskans feel about those reforms, there should be absolute clarity about who is eligible to vote.
It’s also a matter of respect for those who took the oath of citizenship. Naturalized citizens worked hard to become Americans, and their voice at the ballot box should never be diluted by policy experiments that separate voting from citizenship.
Former Rep. Mike Chenault, an ACV sponsor, emphasized the shared values: “This is common sense, consistent with what Alaskans have long assumed the law already says.”
The application for the initiative has been approved by the Lieutenant Governor. ACV will begin gathering tens of thousands of signatures statewide to qualify for the 2026 general election ballot. Expect to see petition circulators – who themselves must be U.S. citizens under Alaska law – at community events, outside post offices, and at local gathering spots. If passed in 2026, Alaska would join states reinforcing citizen-only standards, reflecting enduring Trump-era priorities on immigration and voting amid polarized national discourse.
More information can be found on the press release: