Voters across the Kenai Peninsula Borough will decide this October whether to require all in-person ballots to be counted by hand rather than electronic tabulators.
KPB Initiative Petition 2024-01 will be on the Oct. 7 municipal election ballot. If approved, the measure would amend borough code so that, beginning in 2026, all paper ballots cast in person must be counted manually at the precinct level.
The initiative qualified for the ballot after a grassroots campaign gathered more than 1,500 signatures.
Supporters of the measure argue that hand-counting, similar to the process adopted in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, would strengthen transparency and reduce reliance on electronic tabulators, including the Dominion Voting Systems machines currently in use.
Borough officials and some assembly members have raised concerns about the proposal. Borough Clerk Michele Turner, after consulting with her counterpart in Mat-Su, reported that hand-counting could increase personnel costs and require additional election workers, though exact costs have not been determined. But hand counting is popular in conservative strongholds like the Mat-Su and the Kenai.
The borough currently uses paper ballots, counted by electronic tabulators, and provides special voting machines to assist residents with vision challenges.
Hand count, yes! The corruption in Alaska’s voting system must end. Repeal RCV!
Handcounting would bring honesty back to our elections. PRAYING THIS GOES THROUGH🙏🤞🙏