Advocates for hand-counting ballots are expected to flood the Mat-Su Borough Assembly meeting on Jan. 21 to voice concerns about alleged violations of the borough’s new hand-count-only policy.

In 2022, the Mat-Su Borough Assembly voted to eliminate all voting machines from Mat-Su Borough local elections, and require that ballots be hand-counted only.

While hand-count supporters praised the move, controversy erupted this past November when teams of hand-counters were instructed to pass all ballots through a machine scanner to “count” the total number of ballots that needed to be hand counted.

“This is a violation of the ordinance and not what the people wanted,” a Jan. 20 statement from the Alaska Republican Party’s District 29 leaders stated. “Please attend this Borough meeting and let your presence and words indicate your desire for the Elections in the Borough to follow the Ordinance precisely as passed.”

During the Jan. 21 meeting, the consent agenda includes a new election resolution introduced by Assemblyman Dimitri Fonov, which aims to clarify that ballots must be hand-counted with no aid from machines.

The resolution notes that “in early 2023 the Assembly directed the Clerk to look for and budget for paper counters, which would determine how many ballots have been voted at the precincts and early voting locations” to determine the “total number of ballots” to be counted prior to counting the votes of each race because “the hand counters need to be able to verify that they have accounted for all of the ballots for each race.”

The resolution goes on to explain, “there were issues reported by hand counters with the paper counters being too slow and not able to accommodate for the large number of ballots being put through the paper counter. It then adds that determining “the total number of ballots to be counted can be done without the paper counters,” and it direct the clerk to no longer use paper counters in the election and have hand count officials count out the total number of ballots.”

Another measure introduced by Fonov is an ordinance that proposes to change the word “tabulation” to “count” in order to avoid any confusion regarding the requirement that every ballot be hand-counted by an election worker.

“The word ‘tabulation’ is being changed in areas of Title 25 to ‘count,’” a memo on the proposed ordinance explains. “Tabulation is to arrange, sort, analyze. When code really means to count the ballots in order to determine the results. They have been used interchangeably, when they should not be.”

This ordinance would also achieve the following goals:

— Increase the candidate statement from 100 words to 200 words for their official position and biographical statements in the borough’s election brochure.

— Require candidates to submit the items for the election brochure at the same time as filing for candidacy.

— Allow for the hand counting of early voted ballots to begin earlier in the day, while making it prohibited for any poll watcher to relay the tallies to outside parties prior to 8 p.m.

— Clarify that candidates or organized groups must be the ones to submit the names of their poll watchers, not the individual people requesting to be a poll watcher.

— Clarify to hand count officials that the voter must fill in the oval next to their choice, rather than marking other areas of the ballot to indicate their choice.

— Stipulate that officials are not to count borough ballots received from the State of Alaska without sufficient information to verify voter qualifications.

The Mat-Su Borough Assembly meeting will start at 6 p.m. on Jan. 21 in the Assembly Chambers of the borough building (350 E Dahlia Ave, Palmer).

TAKING ACTION

The public may provide comment on agenda items in-person at the meeting. Comment can also be expressed via phone by calling 1-855-225-2326. Callers will hear “Joining conference” when they are admitted to the meeting. They will be automatically muted and able to listen to the meeting. When the mayor announces audience participation or a public hearing, callers can then press *3 to be on the list to testify. When their turn comes to testify, they will hear “Your line has been unmuted.”

Those who wish to observe the meeting online, can do so via Facebook, YouTube or on the borough website.

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