Anchorage Superior Judge Josie Garton today heard extensive and detailed testimony from an election expert describing how the Division of Elections had moved a key polling location in District 27 at the last minute, to the disadvantage of Rep. Lance Pruitt. Pruitt then lost by 11 votes to Liz Snyder in the East Anchorage district.

Randy Ruedrich, an election volunteer and former chair of the Alaska Republican Party, said the Division’s mistake cost the election between 57-63 votes from people who just could not find the correct voting location, enough to have swayed the election for Pruitt in the precinct that usually votes more Republican.

He compared the difference between day-of vote and early voting and spoke to how they differed from past years. In House District 27’s Precinct 915, there was a “down vote” compared with comparable precincts, demonstrating how the “day-of” vote had been suppressed in that precinct.

The State of Alaska, defending the Division of Elections, first tried to have Ruedrich dismissed as an expert, and then when that didn’t work, tried to say what he was analyzing was simple arithmetic, when he was doing political analysis, not arithmetic.

The surprise last-minute move of the polling location for District 27, Precinct 915 happened twice from the primary to the General Election. Polling started out at the usual place, Wayland Baptist University in the primary, but was moved to Muldoon Town Center after Wayland didn’t want to be a host to the elections because of COVID-19.

Rep. Pruitt contacted the Division of Election on Oct 21 to confirm that the new location would remain at Muldoon Town Center for the General Election. The worker there told him the contracts were in place for Muldoon Town Center, and it was not going to change. Pruitt used that information to print precinct mailers for the General Election, which he mailed out.

It wasn’t until two days before the election that precinct poll workers themselves learned that the voting location was no longer at Muldoon, but had been moved to Begich Middle School.

Election workers testified in court that there was confusion and frustration by voters they spoke to on Election Day, an aspect of testimony that the State’s attorneys had dismissed as hearsay.

One Precinct 915 voter testified about the extent to which she had to go to find the correct place to vote, and how ultimately she didn’t vote because she ran out of time and had to go to an appointment relating to making a living. One of the state lawyers, Tom Flynn, started to shame the witness to make it sound like it was her fault, asking her why she didn’t use alternative methods to vote, and then started talking over her when she said she didn’t trust alternate voting methods. She has lived in the district since the 1980s.

The judge also heard how the Division of Elections had some correct information on its website for polling places in the district, but that Begich Middle School was not listed properly and could only be found if someone clicked through to a deeper link. Muldoon Town Center was the place that was highlighted for voting for that precinct.

It turned out that the Division fo Elections had called the Muldoon Town Center management on Oct. 22, only to be told that the center didn’t like the way things had gone during the primary. The place had been left a mess, and the Division was no longer welcome to hold the election there.

The only other precinct in the district that had a change of polling location was Stuckagain Heights, and those voters, had been notified by the Division of Elections with a postcard.

As for the 3.66 percent undervote in Precinct 915, Ruedrich told the court, “It is a huge impact,” considering the very robust effort by Democrats to get absentee ballots out of their voters during this election, in numbers never seen before in Alaska.

The changing of the in-person voting location, and lack of notification impacted primarily the Republican voters who, like the witness, are less than trusting of the vote-by-mail methods.

Pruitt was represented by election attorney Stacey Stone. The winner of that election, Liz Snyder, will be put on the witness stand on Wednesday, via Zoom. She was not available today, her attorney told the court.

Gov. Mike Dunleavy today said that the state’s largest bureaucracy, the Department of Health and Social Services, will be split into two.

Dunleavy will make an executive order reorganizing it into the Alaska Department of Health, and the Alaska Department of Family and Community Services.

The reorganization will streamline and improve the delivery of critical programs and services while creating more flexibility and responsiveness in both departments, which should result in improved outcomes, he said.

“In order to obtain a keen focus on each crucial division and achieve the outcomes of each program that Alaskans expect and deserve, I will exercise my constitutional authority and reorganize the department to meet the needs of Alaskans into the 21^st century,” Dunleavy said. “The bottom line is Alaskans will be the ultimate beneficiaries of this reorganization, particularly children, the elderly and other vulnerable populations.”

Department of Family and Community Services

The Alaska Department of Family and Community Services will take on early intervention and prevention to strengthen Alaska families and provide a focused approach to services for individual Alaskans. The department will consist of :

1. Division of Juvenile Justice
2. Office of Children’s Services
3. Alaska Psychiatric Institute
4. Alaska Pioneer Homes

Department of Health

The Alaska Department of Health will promote and protect the health and wellbeing of Alaskans and serve as the eligibility, payment, and data department that will focus on whole person care. In addition to housing the state’s Chief Medical Officer, the department will consist of:

1. Division of Senior & Disabilities Services
2. Division of Behavioral Health
3. Division of Public Health
4. Division of Public Assistance
5. Division of Health Care Services

Each department will include a division for Finance & Management Services.

“The Alaskans served by the Department of Health and Social Services, as well as the employees who provide those services deserve to see this process begin today,” said Adam Crum, Commissioner of the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services. 

The governor said reorganization will not reduce programs or services to Alaskans who are currently served. The reorganization is intended to establish a firm foundation for each department that will lead to increased focus on services and outcomes for the Alaskans that are served. Governor Dunleavy and Commissioner Crum will engage with stakeholders, tribal health organizations, DHSS employees, and legislators about the executive order and will welcome their feedback as this process moves forward.

Mayor Austin Quinn-Davidson has told Assemblywoman Jamie Allard of Eagle River that Allard is, in no uncertain terms, not welcome at a Tuesday meeting the mayor has scheduled with restaurant owners to discuss when and how they might reopen to dining at 50 percent capacity.

That, after Assemblywoman Allard filed a resolution last week to take up removing the mayor’s emergency order that shuttered restaurants in December. That resolution is on the Assembly agenda for Tuesday night.

Allard is part of a group of citizens that is trying to open the Anchorage economy back up before all restaurants and small businesses are destroyed beyond repair.

“Thank you for reaching out to our office; however, the administration feels it is unnecessary for you to attend this meeting,” was the response Allard received from the mayor, after getting word of the meeting that had been scheduled with a group of restaurant owners.

On Sunday, one day after a shopping rebellion took place in Anchorage, the mayor sent a note to some restaurant owners:

“I’m writing to let you know about some of the collaborative work we’ve been doing with the hospitality industry. It occurred to me that while we are in regular contact – through meetings, emails, texts, and calls throughout the week – it would likely be helpful for you to receive a brief update on that work. 

“We have a standing meeting as a larger group. These meetings are a place to talk through challenges and explore new ideas. I find them to be extremely productive. In those meetings and in individual meetings, we have discussed a number of ideas that we could fold into a reopening of indoor dining – the North Star plan; a plan from Mesa, CO; and ideas relating to improved ventilation, to name a few. Muni staff have worked with restaurant owners and engineers to understand ventilation challenges and opportunities (made even more interesting in the cold weather), and the Health Department has been exploring a number of ideas as well. Of course we know that the risk for businesses where folks from different households are indoors together with masks off won’t ever completely go away, but we want our restaurants to have the best shot at low transmission rates and the earliest reopening to indoor dining that is possible.

“One of our regular meetings is coming up on Tuesday morning, and we plan to discuss how best to move toward reopening with this group at that time. I will include an update on this meeting in my Mayor’s report at your Tuesday evening meeting. 

“Dr. Johnston will also provide a brief update at Tuesday’s Assembly meeting (during my report) and be available for questions.”

But this is evidently not a public meeting, as the acting mayor is preventing elected Assembly members from attending.

The North Star plan draft is attached here.

The $900 billion stimulus package is trimmed down from from the $2.2 trillion CARES Act passed by Congress in March. It has funds for small business loans, schools, rental assistance that comes with an extension of the eviction moratorium, and direct aid. Its final passage is expected today.

STIMULUS CHECKS

$166 billion will go directly into Americans’ wallets. Direct payments are up to $600 for individuals and for each child dependent, and decreases for those with higher incomes. The last stimulus check cutoff started at $75,000 income per individual and was not available to those earning $99,000 or more, or $198,000 for joint filers. This one will be similarly structured.

In some parts of the country, that $600 will stretch further. In Alaska, that’s enough to help get someone through about a week. The stimulus is worth double to those living in cheaper parts of the country, while Alaska, New York City, and Seattle are somewhat penalized.

UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS

$120 billion is set aside for extra unemployment payments. With more than 19 million Americans receiving unemployment checks, about 13 million would lose benefits starting this Saturday, when the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance and the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation expire. The new stimulus extends both, with $300 weekly extra benefits for up to 11 weeks. It also expands unemployment benefits to gig workers and self-employed workers. Some workers will qualify for 13 weeks of additional unemployment benefits.

RENT ASSISTANCE

$25 billion is for rental assistance, with $800 million carved out for Native American housing agencies. The federal eviction ban was extended until the end of January.

SMALL BUSINESS LOANS

The stimulus package has $325 billion for small business loans. That includes $284 billion in loans through the Paycheck Protection Program, which must be used for support of workers and to prevent layoffs, $20 billion for businesses located in low-income areas, and $15 billion for live entertainment businesses, festivals, movie theaters, and places like museums.

Businesses will be able to deduct at least some of their forgiven PPP loans. To support restaurants and get diners back in them, the measure has a two-year tax break for business meals.

MONEY FOR STATES

The package has a $4 billion “governors’ relief fund,” $10 billion for state highways, $2 billion for airports, $82 billion for colleges and universities, $54 billion for public K-12 schools, and $23 billion for a higher education fund. There are no funds directly for cities.

TRANSPORTATION

$45 billion will go to help airlines make payroll, and there is support for mass transit, and Amtrak. ($15 billion will help airlines maintain their payrolls.)

VACCINES

$69 billion is set aside for vaccines, testing, tracing, and COVID-19 mitigation, which includes $20 billion for purchasing vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna, the two vaccine makers that have received FDA approval.

MILITARY

A 3 percent raise for members of the military is included.