Lt. Governor Meyer Introduces Election Integrity Legislation
Sunday PM (SitNews) Juneau, Alaska - Alaska Lieutenant Governor Kevin Meyer last week introduced Senate Bill 83 (SB 83), an election integrity bill that is said would provide additional tools for the Alaska Division of Elections to increase Alaskan’s trust in elections and the voting process.
“The integrity of our elections is of utmost importance – we cannot have a functioning democracy without it. This bill would not create an overhaul of our existing elections system but rather bolster what already works,” said Lt. Governor Meyer.
Lt. Governor Meyer is expanding the statewide conversation about election security and integrity. In addition to proposals presented by Senator Shower, Senator Hughes, and Representative Rauscher, the ideas presented in SB 83 reflect the firsthand experience the Lt. Governor gained while overseeing the 2020 primary and general elections.
Print article Campaigners supporting the recall of Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy have gathered more than three-quarters of the signatures needed to force a statewide vote on the governor’s tenure, they said. Such a vote could take place as soon as this summer, but the exact date depends upon when the signatures are submitted and when those signatures are processed by the Alaska Division of Elections. Meda DeWitt, chair of the group seeking the governor’s recall, said that as of Thursday, the group had “55,613 signatures with 15,639 left to collect.” State law requires the group to obtain the signatures of at least 71,252 registered Alaska voters, and the pace of signature-gathering appears to be picking up after a pandemic-caused lull. On Feb. 9, the group had reported having just over 50,000 signatures, only about 10,000 more than it did in June 2020.
Print article JUNEAU The first bill to be heard in the Alaska Legislature this year would partially dismantle voting-by-mail systems used by Anchorage, Juneau and other cities across Alaska. Sen. Mike Shower, R-Wasilla, said Senate Bill 39 is intended to strengthen the security of Alaska’s election system in a nonpartisan way, but several legislative observers began circulating alarmed emails on Friday, with Native Peoples Action asserting that Section 22 of the bill “may ban municipalities from having vote-by-mail elections.” That section would prohibit cities and boroughs from automatically sending ballots to registered voters, a cornerstone concept of by-mail voting systems. Cities and boroughs would still be able to send ballots to voters who request them.
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In the days and weeks after the November USA Presidential 2020 election – which now feels like a century ago – Alaska was lampooned for taking eons to count its votes. On NBC news talk show
Meet the Press, prior to the election, political analyst Jessica Taylor suggested that it could take a while for the results of Alaska’s race for US Senator to be known. She quipped: “This is a race that we, I think, don’t know on election night because literally they have to bring in some of the ballots by dog sled.”
Alaska’s Division of Elections quickly retorted on Twitter: “We do not bring in ballots by dog sled.”