Historic: Recount gives Democrats 19 seats in House for first time since 1992

1. Voter fraud! We need a complete audit not a recount! When we have more registered voters than there are eligible citizens that is where signatures must be audited. The voter database was hacked. We should have a new vote and ensure NO voter fraud.

   • YES! I agree. There is absolutely no way Dan Sullivan and Don Young leagally were re-elected.! Thank-you so much for pointing out that there were undoubtedly more conservatives registered to vote than eligible citizens.

     • How long have you been in Alaska? You moved here from… was it California or Taxachusetts? Please go home.

   • It takes just a minimum of critical thinking skills to understand how there can be more registered voters than the number of citizens who can legally vote. This is a repeat of a previous post.

     First, all of the states listed in the Judicial Watch allow citizens to register prior to turning 18. For instance, Colorado permits its residents to register to vote at age 16. Although the U.S. Constitution stipulates that the franchise extends to people who are at least 18 years of age, some states allow registered inhabitants to vote earlier than age 18.

     Second, Ms Downing compares registered voters as of December 3, 2020 to the estimated number of Alaskan 18 and over as of 2019. This skews her statistics somewhat. Additionally, the population of Alaskan residents 18 and over is only an estimate. It is not an exact number.

     Third, a discrepancy between the number of registered voters and the number of citizens legally permitted to vote does not mean fraudulent votes. We live in a very transient country, and Alaska is one of the most transient states. The vast majority of Americans do not bother to tell the states they are leaving to remove them from the list of registered voters. Yet, most often, they do register to vote in their new state. As a result hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Americans are registered to vote in more than one state. That does not mean they vote in more than one state. Most Americans in this situation, only cast one vote, which is in their new residential state.

     I have a personal example. My Mom, who is a very conservative Republican, lived in, was registered to vote in California until 2019. Near the end of that year she relocated to Arizona. She registered to vote in Arizona and did so in the recent election. She never did inform California that she had left California and she did not request California to remove her name from the registration list. As a result, California had a registered voter that was not legally allowed to vote.

     Alaska has a very large percentage of people who move into the state, register to vote, live in the state for a few years, and then leave, all without notify the state that they are no longer residents. Between 5-7% of Alaska’s population enters and leaves the state every year, according to Alaska’s Department of Labor.

     Alaska has a very reasonable policy regarding purging registered voters. It takes several voting cycles for the state to remove a registered non-voter. If you do not like it, then please propose a more logical system.

     • Being registered to vote in two states is illegal, period. Our voter-purge system used to be good, but the feds passed the Voting Rights Act, which makes it almost impossible to purge voters unless they request it. Your stats and interp are interesting, but produce an inaccurate conclusion – for the registered voter list to have 111% of the eligible voters says 1. we have a problem, and 2. there was very likely fraud. Or should I just remind you that one former state congressman is under indictment for election fraud? And she’s just the one who got caught.

2. Under this audit, will there be any close scrutiny to the actual ink and paper on the so called “absentee ballots”? And what about a challenge as to the custody of those ballots? I remember going to bed the night of the election seeing that the ballot measure was well on its way to being quashed and gone forever … then all of sudden a week later … POOF! … Ballot Measure is winning … the air is afoul with a rank, dark stink. If these measure holds under the audit … someone needs to start a referendum on having it removed in the next election, provided if it can get on the ballot.

   • Jeff, no future election is going to mean squat if we do not eliminate the travesty of mail-in voting.

   • Hey, how can you even entertain the possibility of vote rigging when we have Dominion machines counting the votes? There’s never even been a whiff of scandal when Dominion Voting Services count your ballots. /s

   • So what happened to my reply to Jeff in Tok?

     • Now it’s back. What’s going on?

       • Dennis, I am seeing the same kind of thing here with my comments — some of them appear, then disappear, then appear again, only to disappear again. I also have to wonder what is going on, and if my comments are actully coming-and-going as they seem to be, or if this is just something that is happening to me.

         • Unlike Facebook and others, Suzanne does not review via algorithm screening – she reviews each post by reading them. She doesn’t work 24/7, so sometimes this takes a bit. Suzanne also does not screen for viewpoint – she is committed to free speech – but must weed out personal attacks and liability-causing remarks. Be at peace.

3. We’re screwed. Say goodbye to the PFD and hello to income tax.

   For as much as people complain about Juneau, it’s Anchorage screwing us all.

   And can we put to bed the delusion Alaska is a conservative state?

   • Anything is possible but my best guess is that the Senate and the Governor will each say no to an income tax, as they should in order to save what little real economy Alaska has. If Edgmon is Speaker then the most likely scenario is that we stumble through, reducing the PFD, taking money from state agencies that have cash, possibly taking cash from the billion dollar PCE fund while keeping the subsidy the same for 2022, possibly cutting the ferries and the University a little from 2021, and a lot of smoke and mirrors. At the same time there will need to be a large 2021 supplemental because the current budget is also based upon smoke and mirrors (although it was a wet fire year, which helps). I think it’s most likely to be a year of no decisions, and if so then with the following year being a big election year (gubernatorial election and once again the US Senate in the balance) we will see two years of indecision and the source of cash that will require is PF earnings. That is, we will increase the budget, not even taking the BSA reductions that the pandemic allows, but call the increase a cut (as usual) and spend down cash. If Edgmon is speaker there will be House hearings on a number of executive branch situations (some in breaking news right now) and allow all of Juneau to take its eye off the ball. Those hearings will cause the executive branch to become pre-occupied with the recall again and allow the Senate to have hearings on longer-term, big picture, pie-in-the-sky “opportunities.” The Senate likes to talk about mid-century Alaska mining, crypto-currency, hemp, the Ted Stevens airport, and the whole world storing its data on the North Slope. (With an Irishman for Governor why not talk again about seed potatoes?) It would take leadership in the House, the Senate and in the Governor’s office to turn this around; that is, each of the three would have to have leadership for the 2021 and 2022 legislative sessions to deal with the fiscal imbalances. There will be a meaningless spending cap, possibly to put in front of voters, which is a great substitute for real decisions, but a great topic for lots of hearings. I would argue that odds are less than one in ten that the House, the Senate and the Governor’s office can each come up with the necessary leadership. The new Republican House members will barely know where the restrooms are by the 121st day (and as the House minority they will have fewer staffers to show them how it all works). People say that Thompson and LeBon will once again be turncoats, and if that happens we could see armed citizens holding demonstrations in Alaska cities which would exacerbate the ammunition shortage. President Biden will launch a few political missiles toward Alaska and that will be a great topic for we Republicans to discuss in the press and avoid decisions. No, an income tax would be a disaster, and I don’t expect one to be approved, but neither do I expect leadership to emerge to anywhere near the quality and quantity the situation requires. And it was Edgmon in the House and the same people who will once again lead the Senate who got us where we are today! I sincerely hope I am mistaken about all of this (except the income tax). We will know a lot more about the 2022 budget come Friday.

     • Yes, as a caller just said, I know the Senate President won’t be back but the new president will come from the very people who have been in charge so I don’t see much reason for hope there. If Hughes, Costello or Shower became President then I would be much more optimistic so far as emergent leadership.

     • If you’re putting any faith in our useless Governor, you’re asking for disappointment.

       The legislature will tax every last person into the dust before being fiscally responsible.

       Also expect the groundwork to be laid for bypassing us to get at the PFD corpus.

       • Stop the attacks on Tall Mike, you who hide behind a mask – it is NOT his fault. I would be more worried about the courts and the PF corpus – once the AKSC says go, the corpus will be spent by the legislature in a matter of just a few years (I’m hedging, I want to say overnight…). The Governor’s power in all this is quite limited. New taxes will be vetoed by the Gov.

     • Someday the urban Conservatives might wake up to the fact that the Rural Legislative Seats are not a Democrat gurantee.

       The Democrats know that. The unions and nonprofits throw huge bucks to overwhelm any opposition, which they know has little chance of gathering campaign contributions from the poorest areas in the State.

       If we’re ever gonna break the deadlock in Juneau, the Republican Party needs to hire someone from the Rural areas, that’s not just another retread from the past, to help steer an effective barrage of campaigns.

       When Rep Foster, co-chair of finance only wins by 76 votes in the primary and Bryce Edgemond is allowed to run unchallenged, just shows how shortsighted the Republican Party leadership is.

       • Agreed William. We could have flipped 3 house seats and at least 1 senate, if the AKGOP had got behind bush candidates – I’ve been trying to get them to see this for 4 years.

     • What do you have against paying for some of the services you receive? Alaska is the only state where we suck at the teet of government, but complain about government over-reach when asked to pony-up for those benefits. If you are going to complain about the state budget, which I agree is your legitimate right, then propose a rational approach that will balance the budget, without a statewide tax and without a reduction in the PFD. Or presicely propose where you would further cut expenses. I am all ears. Put your money where your mouth is, or shut up.

       • 1. We cannot have an income tax concurrent with the PFD: The PFD is ordinary income to the IRS yet fed income tax can no longer be deducted (as it was when we had an income tax) because that deduction is now capped and the std deduction is so high. 2. People like me will not pay thousands of dollars a year in property taxes to pay for local schools, law enforcement and roads, and then pay an income tax so that people who choose to pay no property tax need not pay anything for schools, law enforcement, etc. 3. Gov. workers now overwhelm the private sector workforce, so mostly we would be paying 400 state income tax auditors to collect a tax on government workers; far better to just reduce the rate of government pay. 4. An income tax would make the PFD income redistribution, which violates the US Constitution. It’s also terrible policy. The BSA can be dramatically cut, replaced with tele-education and home-schooling. Medicaid needs to go back to pre-Obama levels. Corrections costs are out of control. Some state departments have multiple press people; speaking for departments is what we pay commissioner, deputy commissioners and directors for. Covid has taught us that most state official travel is unnecessary. Having legislative session in Juneau is unnecessary. The time for PCE has passed, and that $1 billion needs to go to the CBR.

         • Your #1 is a non-sequitor. The PFD is not a subsidy – it is the people’s money, and tje State is stealing it. Likewise with the PCE – you city folk are still reaping the benifits of the railbelt intertie – why don’t you propose a tax on city electricity? This is just NYMBY, and a popular myth in Anchorage, told by those who want their benefits & subsidies and want someone else to pay for it. Wanna know why the bush doesn’t trust you? Simple – every promise made to us has been broken. A better statewide tax IF we must, would be a sales tax – give people the choice as to how much to pay based on how much they buy. Income taxes penalize those who work – to redistribute income to those who won’t or can’t, as well as pay for some services. Cut the budget – this will mean laying off some state workers. My other posts on this thread give a bit more detail. Good luck getting the BSA cut past the teacher’s union… but it must be done. Molly Hootch requires the State to provide schools in the bush, but we must do better than we are.

       • TB, I don’t know where you’re from… space I guess, but we very much pay for the services we get – just not through an income tax. A statewide tax would have so many exemptions that administering it would be a nightmare – let alone never get past the voters.
         Ways to cut spending which the democrat dominated congress won’t pass, which must happen if we are ever again to see a balanced budget: return medicaid to the pre-Walker level; severely reduce state regulation and coordinate with Senators Sullivan and Murkowski and Rep. Don Young to reduce federal regs that hurt Alaska – like FAA airport regs that can’t really apply to rural airports. This also means cut regulators. Gov. Mike tried to reduce spending by not filling “openings” caused by retirements and folks quitting, but that just didn’t/can’t amount to much. After we get done working through all our programs, we’re left with development, particularly in the oil patch. All politically difficult. We’re facing State bankruptcy and the complete loss of the corpus – not just the PFD. These are the things we must do – I have some other ideas, but they’re specific enough to get me in trouble… Lighten up with the “shut up” – lots of us have opinions and some of us have even been thinking… Rarer is the person involved enough to do something about it. I do take issue with your characterization of all Alaskans as being fed by govt breast – I pay more to the State than I receive in “subsidies” which are limited to the PCE and my portion of the people’s investment – the PFD – and I receive very few services for my fees.

   • To make it worse, the Democrats will likely take control of the Alaska Senate. Ballot Measure 2 will allow all of the RINOs to come out of hiding and expose themselves as the Democrats they are, without fear of losing a Republican primary.

4. And let me guess — voter turnout in this district was 97%, right? Totally normal.

   And oh my God, a university professor AND a “public health expert”?! I see ‘educated-yet-idiot’ and ‘safetyism’ written all over this woman. I can easily see this person being just another rabid authoritarian petty tyrant and micro-manager of society. I have dealt with such people (well, one in particular) before, within the Anchorage Dept. of Health and Safety in particular, and they strongly tend to have a vision of a society utterly suffocated by regulations, red tape and onerous bureaucratic rules, all in the name of “safety”. I should say, rather, ‘safetyism’.

5. What does it matter this year how the House is organized? Aside from the plum offices and committee assignments.Past Legislatures have painted the current Legislature into the corner
   1) Pandemic
   2) Recession if not a severe economic downturn like in the 80s.
   3) Depleted State Savings Accounts.
   4) Shrinking Revenue.
   5) Maxed out draw from the Permanent Fund PMOV.
   6) Years of running deficits.
   7) No Dividend in 2021 unless it is raided from the Permanent Fund.
   8) Vast portions of government that are almost impossible to cut
   There is only one way out of the painted-in corner. R&D’s need to hold hands and jump in the water together: Suspend the Dividend indefinitely and get our fiscal house in orde!. A State sales or income tax is off the table until we end the Dividend – the dumbest public policy ever invented.

   • The PFD is the most brillant thing an Alaska politician has thought up, period. The actuality of your opinion is that of NIMBY – “not in my backyard”. Reality says there are still many areas left to cut – but they involve a bunch of lay-offs of State workers, which our caring Governor is trying to avoid – and cuts to services near and dear to our hearts. We are in a severe recession. We cannot afford the State bureaucracy we have allowed to be built – but even if we laid off the entire bureaucracy, we would not balance the budget. Stop blaming the other guy. We all are going to have to share the pain if we are to dig out of this. For every expenditure, there is a constituency demanding it continue. Pump more oil, Alaska. The PFD is not the State’s money to spend, it belongs to the people – if you want to give yours to the State as a donation, that’s fine – but hands off that which belongs to the rest of us.

     • Why should Dunleavy protect state workers when the rest of us suffer?

       If Dunleavy actually “stood tall”, he would have furloughed over the summer to free up money to help dying businesses.

       But since Wasilla he’s been useless, hiding behind Stevens and his desk.

       • You’re blaming the wrong man. You have no idea how frustrated that man is, not being able to get his cuts past congress.

     • Saying that we would still have a deficit if we sent all state workers home is one way people who call a budget increase a cut fool voters. We can cut the BSA from 1/3 to 1/2 without any measurable impact on students. It might actually increase performance on standardized tests. Tele-education and consolidating REAAs into one make that BSA cut relatively easy right now. Also, we need to cut Medicaid back to pre-Obama levels and we need to cut Corrections costs by defeating the odd partnership that exists between prisoners and the union. We don’t need some sort of technology shell game using favorite contractors for cutting the budget. We just need common sense. Alaska has far too many consumers (too much consumption if you like) and produces far too little; state and municipal spending are merely a distraction from the real decisions, the real leadership, that Alaska requires. We can only have as much state and local government as our economic output can afford, and that output has fallen dramatically while consumption went up! To some degree even the PFD is a distraction; as Dunleavy has said from the beginning, it should not be changed without a vote of the people.

       • All those and more Kubota2. Bill walker put in a hiring freeze, then expanded medicaid, then opened 44 new positions to administer it. Real cuts will mean that some state workers will be laid off.

   • Boy, you had me going there with with agreeable head-nodding until your last statement. The PFD has always been one major obstacle to that vast government from becoming vaster. Surrendering the dividend – a remaining source of funding – to govmint will only make it vastest.

6. Lt Gov. Meyer, resign nothing in this election was fair.

7. Its what it is.
   I always believed when one is an established a leader either for God or for the Illuminati one dont get to retire. There are other ways to serve the community and district than being elected serving the legislature. I think unelect positions may make more effectual change than any legislator because of who is closer to the people and the children.
   Now, its Snyder’s turn being lifted up for whatever reason and Pruitt’s turn serving the home district and Anchorage in a new way him and the Alaskan Republican Party being humbled losing its minority leader.
   There is a season for everything even evil or tyranny like Hillary Clinton was poised to walk into the White House a second time as President in 2016, however, out of no where the table was turned screwing everything up when Trump won, and the Democrats and their GOP allies were Furious! Americans saw their fury for Four years!

   • Yes, but Lance was lazy. He was beaten by someone who has never done anything in her life but read books. But she was well-funded because Lance was late to the campaign and (forgive the redundancy) lazy. A fool and his voters are soon parted I suppose. So while stranger things have happened it would be remarkable if Pruitt kept up the fight by serving in a new way. His inattention has not helped the Governor and Alaskans at all!

8. Illigitimate House Democrats. Counterfeit absentee ballots. Nothing is going to be accomplished in the 2021 AK Legislature, as long as Alaskans know that the 2020 election was blanketed with FRAUD.

9. None of this passes the “smell test”.

   • But it stinks to heaven

10. Look, elections don’t always go the way you want. But harping on accusations of fraud? That just alienates the majority of Republicans voters here in Alaska. You know why ballot measure 2 passed? Because people are sick of having to choose between someone like Joe Miller and a Democrat. For every Joe Miller the AK Republican Party puts up, they erode the support of moderate republicans in Alaska. We don’t hate our neighbors, but we are the majority and we vastly outnumber any other group. So vent, but move on and deal with the issues at hand. Clutching your American flags and tin foil hats , screaming about dominion makes you look like one of those kooks we see on Alaska State Troopers.

    Even Suzanne said that it’s time to reflect on our victories rather than dwell on a few things which didn’t go the way we wanted.

    Don Young isn’t dead (yet). Sullivan is still in office. Dunleavy hasn’t been recalled (yet). Count your blessings and quit crying over 14 votes.

    • You exaggerate both the effects and your chosen groups influence – they have to join with the dems to get anything done their way. But point taken – we yelled a lot to deaf media ears over Hillary’s sour grapes after 2016 – and the whole world watched in horror as the losers spent the next four years persecuting DJT. Lance Pruitt is an honest man – if he lost with no cheating by his opponents, he will accept it and tell us. The rest of us will back down if that is true. Elections matter and have consequences. So does election integrity.

    • If you so-called ‘”moderate Republicans” cannot be bothered to do anything about massive and systemic voting fraud, and the theft of a national election, among many other insults and attacks on our freedoms, then go join your soulmates on the Anchorage Assembly and be done with it already. You spineless surrender monkeys who idolize RINOs like Lisa Murkowski and Mitt Romney are exactly the reason why the globalist, statist agenda is forever ratcheting forward. You are simply part of the problem, and NOT any part of the solution. Stop straddling the fence, and s–t or get off the pot.

11. What about the Alaska Supreme Court ruling just prior to the election that a Absentee Ballot did not require a Witness signature.
    Only the Alaska State Legislature can change Laws regarding Elections….period.
    That is in the US Constitution.
    Currently, Heading to the US Supreme Court, in a Pennsylvania Congressman suit against the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, for changing voter law prior to the election.
    Where is the State of Alaska on appealing the flagrant disregard of US cast in stone Voter law?
    These loosening of voter laws could easily have been the difference in so many of these come from behind wins.

    Coupled that with that catchy sales pitch that was going around in October,
    “ We can guarantee a win
    With Dominion.”

12. Hitler wanted to take over Germany without spilling any German blood on German soil. What did he and the 3rd Reich Brown Shirts do? They circumvented normal voting procedures (he couldn’t win an election) and took the back door approach via cheating, having the media in his back pocket, and kissing up to Hindenburg. The rest is history…

    • Great attempt to dumb down things more and compare the fair elections to Hitler’s takeover of Germany. Could you dumb things down anymore, or have we hit rock bottom yet? Your call.

13. “But ballot harvesting by Democrat candidate” Fweet, fweet! is the dog whistle here. Downing probably thinks djt has had the election stolen from him. I’m wondering if she will ever say the words, President Biden.

    • If ballot harvesting were the only issue, Lance Pruitt would have one – there is something much more fishy going on. As for Suzanne’s integrity: when (if ever) it is clear that Hiden won, she will write those words. It is very clear strange things happened to the November election – for starters, more folks voted in Milwaukee, Detroit, Atlanta, and Philadelphia than there are registered voters in those cities (from Townhall.com Matt Vespa); that there are 111% registered voters in Alaska than eligible residents… Late counted votes that broke 10-1 democrat… No signature verifications… Let’s see what the courts have to say before we crown anyone, and let’s reform election laws to assure this is never repeated. Zombies aren’t eligible.

    • Suzanne does not have to ‘think’ that Trump had the election stolen from him, any sane and rational person KNOWS that the election was stolen, not so much from Trump however, but from every person who voted for him. Which were many more than actually and honestly voted for the senile potato from Scranton.

14. I would like to know how many absentee ballots in district 27 were accepted without the witness signature for Liz Snyder?

15. We have 111% of our voting age population registered to vote. Our elections are a joke.

16. If Elections are not fixed so no voter fraud can happen I see voter apathy happening in a big way especially if this ballot measure 2 is passed! People are not going to waste their time voting for a known rigged vote except young kids that have no clue what they are voting for even at that they might figure it out that it’s not worth it! Then we will see numbers less than 20% turnout more like 5% pretty scary till they realize they are being screwed! Think these riots we have seen in the Lower 48 are tough. Watch out if they start happening with the masses!

    • I expect, and hope, to see many nationwide riots as a result of the massive voting fraud in this last election. The only proper response to tyranny is rebellion.

    • Only with great effort, six hours of driving and waiting hours in line could I vote this year. You are correct, that if my vote is calculated by a computer algorithm I needn’t waste my time and might just wait till I die to vote democrat.

17. What a joke..mail in ballots and harvesting in Alaska along with Dominion….yep. I believe? Guess I will be moving this state is gone!!

18. Liz Snyder won by fraud is my guess just like prop.2 passed.

19. Pruitt lost my vote after refusing to act like a thoughtful Republican in Dunleavy’s year 1. The drama associated with where to meet did not show good leadership nor did supporting massive entitlements (i.e. increased PFD) all the while gutting support for seniors, education and other public services. Independent conservatives fear Republican majorities in the House and Senate given the decisions made by Dunleavy and Donna A. in year 1… and that’s why Pruitt lost.

    • First issue: the PFD is NOT an entitlement – it is an investment for the people managed by the State. Rep. Pruitt supports giving the people what is rightfully theirs, in the full amount laid out in the law.
      Second issue: so you used your lame interpretation of events to vote for Liz Snyder? Shame on you – you will get what you wished for – increasing massive debt, new taxes, and loss of what remains of govt services – with no bureaucrats laid off.
      At least Lance Pruitt is an honest man.

      • If one is honest, then it’s clear the PFD is an entitlement. We can come up with all sorts of justification, but at the end of the day, by definition, it’s an entitlement. The Permanent Fund is enshrined in the constitution but the dividend, a great idea when Alaska was awash in cash, is not. Jay Hammond rightly regretted the compromise necessary to get support for the dividend from the legislature, that is, the elimination of the state income tax. Alaskans historically were people who paid their own way. Not any more, entitlements have a way of corrupting everyone. Today we are dependent on the Feds, the State, etc. yet many alaskan republicans like to rage against big government on the one hand and with the other clinging to entitlements.

        I don’t doubt Pruitt is honest but if someone in leadership makes bad decisions they should be held to.account. That’s the privilege and duty of voters in a free society.

        • To split hairs over the word “entitlement”: one normally agrees that a payment made according to law by the government is an entitlement. The PFD is not govt money – it already belongs to the people – therefore is not an entitlement. The theft of the PFD is the legislature breaking the law, period. Let’s cut the budget, not just play at it. When real cuts have been made – and they will be painful – then and only then will I sit still to talk about revenue sources that drain our economy. An income tax – or even the theft of the PFD – are net drags on the Alaska economy. We have too much government, too much regulation, and too many state workers. Do I agree with everything congress did the last two years? Of course not – and I blame the Republicans who allowed the binding caucus to continue and joined with the dems. Is Rep. Pruitt perfect? Of course not – but he is and will be a far sight better than Liz Snyder.

20. Looks like Alaska is getting taken to the cleaners like the rest of the nation. We need to clean our voter rolls and use paper ballots only. No Dominion or Smartmatic machines! Fraud, Fraud Fraud!

    • More than paper ballots, paper ballots filled out in person after validating proper registration and identification. But once you vote socialists in they will never leave other than by force. Ditto for public unions (but I repeat myself, just look at Anchorage).

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