Alaska Senate Bill 64, an overhaul of the state’s election laws, is racing through the Legislature, with provisions that could open the door to voter fraud, registration errors, and weakened oversight. The bill is now in House Finance after the Senate Democrat-led majority passed it.
While the bill is framed as a modernization effort to increase voter access and streamline registration, it invites trouble for Alaska’s already-troubled election system.
The bill expands the list of acceptable IDs to include tribal identification cards and to exclude previously accepted hunting and fishing licenses. It mandates that documents like utility bills or bank statements used as ID are valid within 60 days.
While the inclusion of tribal IDs is intended to improve access, there are widely varying standards among tribal-issued documents, with some prone to forgery or falsification. The 60-day document rule, if not strictly verified, could be exploited with falsified documents.
SB 64 defines voter residency as a place the voter intends to return to, creating a “rebuttable presumption” that the address on file is valid.
This looser standard invites ambiguity, especially for transient populations or individuals who spend significant time out-of-state. The subjective nature of a “reasonable and articulable plan” to return to a specific precinct makes enforcement difficult, allowing non-residents to vote unlawfully and skew voter rolls.
There is not a “fiscal note” on the bill at this time, but there are costs. The bill has added more staff in the way of “rural liaisons” to help rural voters.
The bill eliminates the witness signature for absentee ballots. Supporters like Sen. Bill Wielechowski say it reduces voting barriers. However, it strips away a key safeguard used to verify voter identity and intent, and it increases the risk of absentee ballot fraud or coercion, particularly in unsupervised environments, such as rural Alaska, where ballots often can be harvested from Post Office trash cans.
Under the new proposed law, absentee ballots received after election day may be counted if USPS tracking shows they were sent on or before election day, even without a postmark.
The bill creates a new system for absentee ballot tracking and curing. Voters can now fix issues such as missing signatures or ID mismatches. While well-intentioned, experts caution that a lax curing process might allow improperly cast ballots to be counted. The security of the digital tracking system is also vital—any breach could compromise sensitive voter information or election results.
The bill adds unlimited drop boxes and absentee ballots in perpetuity, which means after a person registers and qualifies they don’t have to ever request it again, so long as they vote at least once every four years or their ballot is not returned as undeliverable.
The Democrats added interesting language about “true source” funding. An Independent Expenditure group that gives money to a ballot initiative does not have to reveal the true source of its funds. The bill decreases transparency on campaign finance laws as applies to donors Outside Alaska. The Democrats have redefined what “true source” means, as it applies to ballot measures.
As SB 64 moves toward passage in the Democrat-led House, it’s unclear if the governor will veto the bill or allow it to go into law.
“Yes” votes in the Senate were Jesse Bjorkman, Claman, Forrest Dunbar, Cathy Giessel, Elvie Gray-Jackson, Lyman Hoffman, Scott Kawasaki, Jesse Kiehl, Kelly Merrick, Donny Olson, Bert Stedman, Gary Stevens, Loki Tobin, and Bill Wielechowski.
“No” votes on the bill were Sens. Mike Cronk, Shelley Hughes, James Kaufman, Robert Myers, Mike Shower and Rob Yundt, all Republicans in the minority.
Governor will VETO this bill! Is a disgrace to voter and our politicians that run for office! Juneau is a joke and those who voted yes for such a bill are the main reason people of Alaska are ashamed of what comes out of the house in Juneau! You are all a disgrace to this great state!
Correct!!..There is NO absolutely NO way the Gov will pass and VETO this bill.
So we can expect Kings Island and the Village of Solomon to cast thousands of pedocrat votes from their combined populations of 0
I agree Ella. The Union Party is in control Alaska`s Government. Our only hope is the Governor’s Veto. If he doesn’t use it now, Alaska will be run by a Union Boss, with a Rubber Stamp Legislature. Wich is pretty much what we have now. Mike ran as the Governor to get us a full PFD Check. For seven years he has said. I tried. He will go down in history to have finished what Walker started. Destroying Alaska as we KNEW. IT. If he doesn’t Veto the Pension Bill, the Education Bill, the PFD Check Bill, and this Piece Crap, he might as well Lock the Door Behind him, because he will be THE LAST Governor ELECTED BY THE PEOPLE.
Dunleavy is the vote I regret most in my life.
I should have voted for Hobo Jim (RIP)
All I need to do is look at the “yes” votes, and that tells me everything I need to know about this bill.
Alaska. A state committed to economic suicide.
Voting should be same day, in person and with state issued photo ID. And we need to eliminate all these fake residents from the Lower 48 who never lived here but only come for the summer season to rape and pillage our resources.
What do you expect when you voted for them?
Welcome to the new Alaska!
I didn’t vote for THEM.
This proves beyond a shadow of doubt that the state legislature has gone insane. They are doing everything possible to keep the corrupt union democrats and rino traitors in power. We have lost any possibility of a fair election process.
Go,Gov Dunleavy! That veto pen is gonna be busy! Where’s the @akgop? If any of these 3 bills get the 60% override we are doomed. If voters eyes aren’t opened up by now, this state deserves to end up a Marxist dump of humanity. Romans 1
Racing… That said it all right there… Doesn’t matter, there’s no voting out of this one… That’s what the machines are for… The plan is to bankrupt it then sell it off or just take it like what’s happening around the world now… Unfortunately the Demonrats don’t seem to understand they have no future in this either… Oh well… Trust the Plan… ***
While I have not examined this legislation section by section, there does not appear to be anything that provides for better election security. Everything weakens election security. If this legislation passes and the Governor does not veto it, he will be sentencing conservatives to perhaps permanent minority status.
When I read news like this, it just reaffirms my decision to step away from the entire fraudulent voting process in the State of Alaska was the right decision.
My biggest job today is protecting my non-registered status from all the fraudulent “voter registration” schemes currently out there. It is my responsibility to ensure my “vote” is never cast for a communist cause. And the best way I can do that is to remain unregistered. For any “registered” voter can cast a vote for whomever the vote counters prefer.
VETO!
This is a hot mess!
Dunleavy better VETO this bill or he will NEVER hear the end of it
This is what I posted on Sen Bill Wielechowski’s FB page:
This looks like a good start. However, I strongly disagree with the portion that: “Repeals the witness signature requirement for absentee by-mail ballots which disproportionately affects rural and military voters.”
If this is such a good idea, then why can’t it be implemented at the local Precinct level too? No need for any staff workers; just go in, grab your ballot and sign your name and deposit your voted ballot.
No reason to show my Voter ID card, driver’s license etc. You’re pandering to the mail-in voters. Remember: If Gabrielle LeDoux could find a way to kink the ballot box with mail in votes, please don’t think others smarter than she will too.
As soon as I saw that the Democrats were pushing the bill I figured it would be bad idea.
Oh… Look. Yet another bill from the Democrats that removes any safeguards against voter fraud in order to “remove barriers to voting.”
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Exactly what barriers are they removing? Can I meet the individuals who were unable to vote under the current system? Names and locations please.
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This, like all the other “get everyone voting” attempts is just plain stupid. Remember Anchorage. Mail in voting was supposed to remove barriers to voting and get more people involved. And, voter participation has gone down since it was implemented. I am going to go ahead and say that was a total failure.
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Does anyone think this will do better? I don’t.
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Reality is I do not want more people voting. I want more INFORMED people voting. There is no real “test” that can be put in place to test a person’s current events knowledge, but I am going to go out an a limb and say…If you are interested enough to register to vote, and interested enough to get to a polling place (or request an absentee ballot), you are likely informed enough to cast an educated vote.
They must follow suit with the Left Coast as that is how they have accomplished total control of the serfs.
Alaska will be as blue as the blue haired freaks protesting and burning of campuses in Portland and Washington universities.
They didnt invite Liz Cheney to UAA for her intelligence.
She only came because Joe pardoned her for her criminal activity.
Ballot harvesting. Dominion tabulation. Late voting. No voter ID checks. These are all recipes for voter fraud. The country has been through this ad nauseum, yet Alaska seems to be going in the reverse direction for voter integrity. Are we really destined to be a banana republic? Ste the Republican legislators really that stupid? Where’s our election chief Nancy Dahlstrom during all of this?
With the judges in Texas being caught with ballot harvesting why would you vote for this, Veto it.
Our paper ballot election system with witness verification and valid Alaska id worked fine for years. Now with the enhanced id this nonsense about tribal id is null and void. Even the native community needs an enhanced id to fly commercial airlines.
The constitution says All men are created equal. How about we get back to that.
This is what happens when so called “Republicans” abandon their Republican colleagues in the legislature to form a bi-partisan coalition. They create bad bills like this. And this one shoves the liberal agenda right down our throats. Senators Merrick, Stedman, Stevens and Giessel – SHAME ON YOU!!!
How about CCWs being accepted as ID?? Even Texas does that
Most of the election stuff is BS. Having worked in previous elections, I find the following problems for whoever are creating them.
… Not enough ballots being sent out to Districts in the Bush communities. Having to make copies of ballots for voters. How do the machines count ballots that are “copied”
… Lack of good election training and consistent people to show up election day.
… Lack of coordination of getting ballots out on direct flights and connections directly to larger count centers for counting.
… Cleaning up of voter rolls for accurate data in order to correctly give out ballots.
… Ensure manual counts of all ballots, no machines. Population is low enough that machines are not necessary.
Fix these issues and our elections would run a lot smoother and more consistent.
The Alaska Uniparty quislings strike again!
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