By SEN. MIKE SHOWER
As a state senator, I have been working on election reform legislation for many years.
While I have never taken the position that election fraud was so prevalent that a single election result in Alaska was changed, a few things solidified my strong belief we must pursue election reform.
First, it’s clear the Americans across the political spectrum no longer have faith our elections are fair or secure. If their side didn’t win it wasn’t because the other candidate was better, but because there was cheating, fraud or other malicious actions that “stole” the election. The distrust of our election system is at the highest point in history.
Second, through a great deal of research and painstaking work, we discovered a number of vulnerabilities in our Alaska election system that we need to address.
Some examples:
A few years ago, we had at least two cyber-attacks, which stole the data of 113,000 Alaskans. We Alaskans were told about this after the election was over.
Personal information was stolen and is still on the dark web, which could be used for any manner of nefarious activity, including registering someone to vote without his or her knowledge.
The state would not be able to understand the extent of the problem without a true forensic audit. Alaska has the most over-inflated voter rolls in the nation. This is a nationally acknowledged fact by our own state and organizations in the Lower 48 that track such data.
Part of that problem is automatic voter registration when filing for a Permanent Fund dividend. I’ll get to that in a moment.
The entire division of elections website was partially hacked in 2016 and was under the control of a “hacker” who was simply waiting for someone to pay him for the access. Watch the HBO documentary “Kill Chain,” to hear from the hacker who did it.
We have no ballot chain-of-custody protocols or tracking system to ensure we know where ballots go, who gets them, and then ensure every one of them comes back to a central location for counting and storage. We allow unused ballots to be destroyed in districts vs. accounting for them in a central location. The Division of Elections doesn’t check for U.S. citizenship. From what I know of the infamous “Tshibaka” report, we haven’t always checked the Dominion machines, as we are supposed to, for security and functionality.
Speaking of that report. I have asked for it since it was briefed to higher-up elected officials in July of 2020. In the over 30-page report, then Administration Commissioner Kelly Tshibaka highlighted three and a half pages of items we need to fix or do better. I was given a “redacted” copy of the report to read. All three and a half pages of those recommendations were blacked out.
I was stunned. A state senator was asking for a publicly funded report so I could do my job better and provide appropriate legislative solutions, but was being denied access to it.
I was offered a chance to read it but had to sign a non-disclosure agreement. This means if I talk about anything in the report the state could sue me for violating the agreement.
That was an impossible position, since the entire goal of reading it was to use the data to draft legislation to address the findings.
There is more, but I think you get the point. Our election system isn’t perfect and there are vulnerabilities we need to address.
Yesterday I had a constituent reach out to me about a recent social media post of mine regarding the “loophole” first reported on by Must Read Alaska. This loophole is what happens when people are automatically registered to vote when filing for a Permanent Fund dividend. The constituent is part of an organization that is helping Ukrainian refugees trying to settle in the United States with the goal of eventually applying for citizenship.
These immigrants understand quite well that a non-citizen cannot register to vote, as it’s illegal. If any of these Ukrainians were registered to vote and then apply for U.S. citizenship, the immigration officials will easily discover their voter registration, and their request will most likely be denied.
This group is helping advise and help these Ukrainian people with all of their paperwork, applications, etc. Even though the immigrants were all advised to check “no” on the dividend application question about whether they wanted to be automatically registered to vote, virtually all of them received voter registration cards.
Houston, we have a problem.
Remember the automatic voter registration ballot initiative that was installed by Democrats and left wing outside dark money in Alaska in 2016? That’s one of the election vulnerabilities in Alaska. There is real, concrete evidence that people are being hurt by this automatic voter registration.
I don’t believe the state has any idea how many people have been automatically registered since 2016. Some forget, don’t care, move to another state, etc. We don’t require people to unregister with the state and Alaska has a large transient population.
Then we send thousands of ballot applications to these people, without knowing if they are alive, registered in another state, or anything else. Who gets those applications? What about ballot harvesting? We allow that, too — another vulnerability.
Ironically, I had a bill that included this fix. It was stopped by Democrats a few years ago in the House. A clean, simple voter roll cleanup bill, filed by Rep Sarah Vance (R) of Homer this last session, was another chance to fix part of the problem. Unfortunately, it was effectively killed by Sen. Scott Kawasaki (D) in the Senate when he hijacked it and turned it into an omnibus bill with a plethora of Democrat wishes.
Alaska, we need to fix this, not in a few years, but right now. It is unconscionable for us to allow people like these immigrants who are doing the right thing to be harmed because of an ill-conceived law on the books.
Let’s repeal this automatic voter registration, fix the loopholes, and close up such vulnerabilities so we can all rest assured we have a world-class, trusted election system.
Sen. Mike Shower represents Wasilla Senate District O, formerly known as District E.
Who is in charge of this?? Isnt this the Governor’s job?
Jen,
It’s Nancy Dahlstrom’s job, but she’s too busy trying to get Alaska’s congressional seat. Here’s how this year’s Alaska election is supposed to unfold, according to the secret, willfully conduct of Mike Dunleavy:
Trump wants Dunleavy as his Secretary of Interior in order to open up oil and gas lands in Alaska and other states. That would elevate Nancy Dahlstrom to the Governor’s Office. But Dunleavy thinks Nancy is better in Congress, so he gets Trump to campaign for Dahlstrom in the hopes that Dahlstrom can beat Nick Begich in the Primary, then Nick signs out from the General as he promised. Then, Dahlstrom has a fair shot at taking out Mary Peltola with Begich out of the way.
If Trump wins, and Dahlstrom wins,
Dunleavy will first appoint a new Lt. Governor,
much like Bill Walker did when Byron Mallott resigned in 2018. Valerie Davidson, who was Walker’s Commissioner of Health and Social services became Lt. Governor for a few short weeks.
Dunleavy would appoint his little known Alaska Transportation Commissioner Ryan Anderson to the Lt. Governor’s seat. After Dunleavy departs for his new job as Secretary of Interior, Ryan Anderson moves quickly into the Governor’s seat.
That’s the Dunleavy game plan. And that’s the reason Nancy Dahlstrom is still going to hang in there without agreeing to drop out of the Primary. Nancy gets access to Trump, and money, for her campaign, Dunleavy moves to DC, and a virtual nobody named Ryan Anderson, who is Mike Dunleavy’s best friend, becomes governor.
So, who can stop Dunleavy’s scheme?
Nick Begich III, and all of his supporters. A
Kamala Harris presidency would stop Dunleavy in his tracks.
Very interesting disclosure. Deep inside info, obviously. What is it about being Alaska governor that bores the office holder? Wally Hickel gave it up to be Nixon’s Secretary of Interior. Sarah Palin gave it up to try and be Vice President. Dunleavy giving it up to be on Trump’s team. Dahlstrom potentially giving it up to be a member of Congress.
Maybe the Capitol should be moved out of Juneau, so a born and raised Alaskan would stay the course as governor.
scooper this explains everything!
how diabolical. purposely derailing the campaign of nick begich iii to get the best friend appointed governor.
CORRUPTION!
Dunleavy is a Pennsylvania native. He wants to move back East. Isn’t this Ryan Anderson fellow the Commissioner who authorized a 200- mile truck haul for a mine in Tok, Alaska? Tearing up the public hiways to please his big boss, Mike Dunleavy.
Dunleavy can still run Alaska from his new job as Interior Secretary. Barf!
Too much speculation here. Begich could win. Trump could lose. Dunleavy could resign. And Dahlstrom could get locked-up with her inmate buddies.
absolutely agree with this. we need to get rid of automatic voter registration.
To me it seems that the governor and lt. governor are not interested in election integrity.
Yeah, yeah! But what’s the rush?
Tshibaka’s report has been under the nose of Lt Governor Dahlstrom, since her inauguration. Would the Lt Governor, now running for US Congress, please give us an update on what she has done with it? One of Alaska’s LT Governor’s most important duties is to supervise the Division of Elections (AS 44.19.020). Is the LT Governor kamala-ing?
👍
Anything that Claman touched, and I’m sure he had a lot to do with auto-registration, is crap, so there’s no question that it needs to be repealed.
Elections are less about participation than they are about legitimacy.
When a voter, a participant, feels for even a half reasonable moment that an election isn’t or wasn’t legitimate, that voter is disenfranchised.
And frankly, a disenfranchised American is dangerous.
When even one vote or merely a dozen ill-cast votes are counted towards an election, it disenfranchises us all.
There is no reasonable reason why elections cannot require in-person voting with ID except for extreme circumstances…pretty sure that a system like that worked towards legitimacy for a very long time.
If a voter feels disenfranchised, it’s because of the steady, easily digested fact free crap that has oozed from Trump for nine years. He he created the mistrust and he did so purposefully and those who can’t see that have been fooled and they want to be fooled.
Aw, Mark and Jeff, you’re both full of it!!!
Wow, you honestly think Trump created voter disenfranchisement. That’s not just scary, it’s beyond frightening.
No the distrust has come from the 11 million more votes received by Biden than Obama in his reelection in 2012. I guess you believe a feeble old man Biden is that much more popular then Obama. You need to get off the CNN, MSNBC, WP, NYT crap machine and do some good old fashion research not using Google. Your comments are direct from the talking points of the Undemocratic Democrat party.
Sorry, but you are so far off-base as to make me wonder if you read both the article and my comment.
Read carefully, you’ll see I didn’t mention Trump, or Biden, or Obama, or the Democrats or the Republicans. Not once.
I’ve been active in politics since the 1990’s and I’m not a Republican. As a matter of fact, I was once a “yellow-dog Democrat ”
The value is in the process, not the results. The current process now legitimizes not just the anonymity of the voter, but of the process.
At one time, 99% of voters arrived at one announced place on one announced day to participate. You saw your fellow citizens performing their public duty.
Remote and common “absentee” voting removes that utterly.
It lends to this idea anethema to modern society…when you are told something over and over again and it flies in the face of your personal observations…you need to put aside one or the other…and generally it is wiser and correct to dismiss what people are telling you, not what you personally observe.
So no, Trump has nothing to do with it anymore than any one individual or party.
Here is something to consider
Oh grow up you two!!
(or maybe you are actually more like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde)!
You even read what you write or is your every waking moment occupied with thoughts of, “it’s Trumps’ fault”.
You do know we are talking about the Alaskan voter rolls and election system integrity right?
Voter disenfranchisement has been going on a good many many years. There were the hanging chads and Al Gore, the 100% of voters picking Obama in certain precincts in Chicago. Ever heard of Tammany Hall in New York? Then let’s not forget Hillary is still running around claiming her election was “stolen” (which apparently is okay for her to do).
Closer to home we have Gabrielle Ledoux, who got votes from apparent non-existent trailer dwellers and don’t get me started on the idiotic mail-in voting here in the Muni, where you are almost certain your vote is just window dressing. (One reason I get so aggravated when certain Juneauites claim that “Anchorage did it to itself” as there is really no proof that is correct)
Voting is THE ONE responsibility of all Americans to shape their government and it is becoming very clear that some quarters simply do not want the government the American people desire. They make every effort to manipulate the process to garner an advantage, shape the outcome (RCV anyone) or attempt to suppress the real voter by undermining the system.
So you two, how do you suggest we fix the voting and the voter rolls here in Alaska? Please be specific.
The matter isn’t that it can be perfect or error-free, I don’t believe anyone has that expectation.
What the goal has to be, just as in the court process, legitimate.
As an analogy. How would you feel about the judicial system if all trials were closed after opening statements and only opened again to the public at verdict?
That is essentially what “early-voting”, automatic non-verifiable registration, and absenteeism for convenience does to the electoral process.
It’s about the perception of legitimacy, not about perfection.
I agree to some extent however no election should only have the “perception of legitimacy” instead demand verified accountability for all votes and voters in order to achieve true legitimacy to the ability possible in law. Any election where ballots float about, end up in bins at the post office or in trunks of a car, should not have the power of law in establishing the winning candidate. As you pointed out with your legal analogy, restoring faith in the process needs to start with transparency.
i watched senator shower bring his plan on how to fix the system on gavel to gavel. what i saw was unbelievable. i don’t remember any dem saying anything , it was republican who were against any fix at all , this was at the senate finance committee , the republican chairman left the room, senator showers problem is our own party
Agree. There are many faux ‘conservatives’ in the Republican Party. It isn’t as simple as just voting ‘R’ and that is indeed part of the problem.
Exactly! These are the same people who would not allow the governor’s proposed constitutional amendments allowing Alaskans to vote on any taxes and also putting the PFD in the constitution. Bert Stedman is the permanent “vice chair” of the Senate Finance Committee. Nothing leaves it without his consent.
Very true
Since when has a state given the right of citizenship in America.
It is disgusting the lengths the left will go to cheat. Of course they will kill any bill that cleans up our voter rolls and closes loopholes. They would be removing one of their tools. Thank you Senator Showers for all you do and for a very informative article that will help more people be aware of what is happening. The people roadblocking efforts to make our elections more trustworthy need to be voted out, alas though, there will need to be enough votes to overcome any cheating.
Honey, the cheaters are not the Left. They just aren’t. It was the Right that fraudulently created phony electors in 2020. All of those crooks are under investigation or indicted. All of trump’s goons like Eastman and Giuliani are rabid conservatives ( but to be fair, they are crooks first and on the Right second). And no abbreviated list of election fraud effort would be complete without felon Trump, you’re guy. If you support Trump, you also believe that hate, and condemnation of every single group of americans like veterans is a winning strategy. Trump’s obvious lack of curiosity and intelligence is a caustic and powerful threat to democracy. If you agree with him, you are an enemy of the good.
Spare us your vitriol and hate! Conservatives are not the enemy. They are fellow Americans, who simply do NOT agree with your twisted view of reality. Your attitude personifies the laziness of simply vilifying all you do not like and moving on, instead of actually debating the points. Calling people names is so much easier albeit immature.
America was founded on vigorous debate, but there was always mutual respect. Dehumanizing others is a very dangerous slope, we have seen many times in history before, shame on you!
I concur with your assessment, but they right is equally responsible for vilifying the other side. Even in your response to Mark and Jeff, you refer to a “twisted view of reality”. I’m not certain that would qualify as mutual respect.
Always beware of the false security that comes with consensus. That goes for every side of a debate. I see mostly vitriol on here but its kind of expected for MRAK as it is a far right leaning publication. Much of the agreements people seem to have here are just people reinforcing the echo-chamber.
Cman, after reading M&J diatribe several times, I found no saving grace into what basically boils down to all conservatives being called a goon, a crook, a hater, rabid or “If you agree with him, you are an enemy of the good.” I respect that they are entitled to their opinion and can post it. However their commentary is clearly not coming from reasonable and measured minds and inflate their hate for all things Trump into a hateful perception of reality of all things conservative.
You are correct that there are some not so nice comments on both sides, which is sad. However you can get off your high horse as I very clearly recall the nasty echo chamber of the ADN comments any time someone did not tow the party line, so give it a rest! Just because some people can not argue does not mean we have to tolerate or accept it.
It is very obvious to me that it is impossible to have a reasonable discussion with M&J and their comments add nothing of value.
There’s those two “boys” again, pretending to be brothers. Come on Mark and Jeff. Can’t we do coffee?
It’s really too bad there is no agency in the state with a dynamic leader to solve election problems.
Also, who is the responsible party regarding the redactions in the report, and the NDA to see it?
As always, democrats are a big part of the problem.
Thank you, Senator Shower, for doing Nancy Dahlstrom’s job. Apparently she can’t do it, or doesn’t know how.
Senator, are you voting for Nick Begich 3 like the rest of us?
Good question, Naomi. Who are you backing for Congress, Mr. Shower?
Let’s hear from Senator Mike Shower on this question.
Here, here. Senator Shower, please address the question. We are waiting.
I don’t trust anything computer. Thomas Edison ( from this moment forward technology will continue to advance until it finally destroys us) after introducing the electric light bulb. Any questions??? And we are there.
Yes, the light bulb has always been suspect, hasn’t it? Good grief.
Please, Senator, direct me to the law that authorizes a publicly funded election investigation to be redacted?
Especially when elections are the foundation of that self-justified American dream that infiltrated my ancestors with the intention and bullishness to civilize us savages.
That foundation was the bedrock that caused immense amount of harm and detriment – we as Alaska Natives were assimilated into this way of democracy.
Now, we watch and see how that same foundation is crumbling at the hands of greed of power addicted elitists?
Please, Senator explain to me, what really has the purpose of democracy accomplished?
Was all the relocation, killing, removal from lands, slapping out our the language, culture, tradition, sterilizing without consent, (to name a simple few atrocities) that were all based on the idealism of a whole new world – freedom??
Because from where I sit, it appears to be more of the same.
Could that be because it is tied up in litigation amongst the elitists?
Would even a FOIA request be denied?
How about a Civil Rights action?
Feels like the grandchildren of those that held those ideals to be true, have lost sight of the gravity of which their ancestors caused, lead, participated in and covered up.
The very least that HAS TO BE PROTECTED is the thread of hope among all of us collectively – open and honest elections.
Many things can be forgiven-but when repeated – know this. We are educated, savvy, powerful, and rich now.
And we have very influential colleagues that are just now starting to learn about the Last Frontier.
Many of whom have bothered to go to remote communities more so than most sitting legislators and executives hired and/or elected to govern the State of Alaska.
So, I agree with you. It is important to have a sitting Senator to champion this.
it’s too bad there isn’t an administrative person on dunleavy’s team that is assigned to dealing with election integrity. oh wait, there is, the lt gov!
it’s a shame she’s too busy pretending taking orders from DC and pretending to be a republican
I think I made this comment on another post but it is easier to get on the voter rolls than get off. Two of my adult children have not contacted the Division of Elections to be removed after they have moved out of state. I’d like to know why there is a “rule” that someone else can’t do it. You would think that a legit voter could let them know and they could be purged. That’s one little chink in the rules that could be fixed.
There are no such thing as loopholes. Attorneys for special interests write the bills, and are paid big bucks to craft the legislation according to their clients goals. The public is not the client, the donors are. Voting is a right, which requires the would be voter to register themself as a responsibility, within a timely fashion before an election. There can be no automatic registering or mass ballots mailed out, to be voted and counted as necessary, to achieve the correct result. Our elections are corrupt, Miller vs. Murkowski was painfully obvious. One of the regional elections directors now controls Nome Eskimo, she is openly crooked and a despicable excuse for a “leader”, much less an ethical state worker. Alaska is as socialist as any blue state, people pretend that government grant derivative jobs, or military base scams are actually productive. It’s all welfare mentality and destroying our country.
Thank you, Mike, for sharing this information. Please continue to work on this matter.
Has Dunleavy and Dahlstrom been involved at all?
Just fix it. Talk, talk, talk. In the last few years, Alaska has been good at talking about getting things done, but. In the spirit of the Alaskan Pioneers, just get it done regardless of what party you work with. If something is not right, correct it.
Get rid of the “ranked choice voting system, I feel that my vote isn’t going to the person I choose, and I believe ith information with it said unless you didn’t check more than one your vote was void.
Alaska, red on the outside, blue on the inside. Our sacred constitution was written by a gang of communists. Read it and weep.
Senator Shower started working on election issues in 2018 involving the accuracy of Alaska’s election and data and voter rolls. Read Senator Shower’s Sponsor Statement for SB 39.
Commissioner Kelly Tshibaka’s report is a public document highlighting items to fix or do better is 100 percent in the publics interest. The document should have been immediately handed over to Senator Shower.
Please Governor Dunleavy and/or Lt. Governor Dahlstrom forthwith Commissioner Tshibaka’s unredacted report to Senator Shower. Thank you!
The drama that Trump created with his false narrative about widespread election fraud reaches all the way up to here. What a cult it is.
Cman,
You are a Democrat election fraud denier. Please fix yourself.
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