The same dark money group that is now funding a voter initiative on campaign contributions, so the dark money Outside groups can continue to control elections in Alaska, is responsible for making Alaska’s elections insecure back in 2016 through a voter initiative that has, since 2017, registered people to vote automatically whenever they apply for a Permanent Fund dividend. Even if they aren’t citizens.
New Venture Fund put at least $565,000 into the effort in 2016 that succeeded in convincing Alaskans to pass a ballot measure that allows anyone who even applies for a Permanent Fund dividend to get a voter identification card. They should return it if they are not a U.S. citizen, but it’s all on the honor system, according to the Division of Elections.
The New Venture Fund, a subset of the dark-money Arabella Advisors umbrella of political operations, now wants Alaskans to sign a petition saying that individuals can’t contribute more than $2,000 to campaigns, which leaves the dark money groups like the New Venture Fund in control of Alaska elections in perpetuity, because groups like NVF can set up any number of subgroups to funnel money in ways average Alaskans can’t.
With just these two programs — no voter registration controls and preventing people from contributing to campaigns, Alaska will be at the mercy of Outside dark money.
In response to Must Read Alaska‘s story over the weekend, functionaries of the Governor’s Office have told Alaskans that there is nothing that can be done to fix the automatic voter registration problem and that it’s not really a problem. The Must Read Alaska report, they say, is a nothing-burger.
But there is at least one fix. The executive branch could work with the legislature to repeal or amend the Permanent Fund Dividend Automatic Voter Registration Program. The executive branch — the governor and lieutenant governor — could call for a pause in the program while a legal review is done to see if it violates the Alaska Constitution or state statutes.
The seriousness of the problem is hardly in question. The New Venture Fund already finances the 907 Initiative, The Alaska Center for the Environment, the Alaska Venture Fund, and even Alaskans for Posterity, a group that tries to trick people into thinking it is the free-market group known as Americans for Prosperity-Alaska.
The New Venture Fund is the equivalent of a political party in Alaska. It has far more money and influence in elections than the political parties combined.
A Dunleavy Administration employee privately contacted Must Read Alaska subsequent to our story on the flaws in automatic voter registration, and said that the PFD automatic voter registration program is highlighted in the Elections security audit produced by Kelly Tshibaka, former commissioner of Administration, with recommended solutions.
That state’s election security report, completed in 2019, has never been made public and those who have asked for it, including legislators, have had their requests refused. What else is in this report that the public cannot see?
https://mustreadalaska.substack.com/p/arabella-billionaires-and-peltola
