On March 17, Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom announced that ballot initiative petition 25USCV has been properly filed, meeting all constitutional and statutory requirements under Alaska law.
Alaska’s current voter eligibility statute does not explicitly prohibit non-citizen voting. The citizen-only voting initiative seeks to clarify the statute with plain language so that Alaskans understand only citizens are eligible to vote and strengthen the statute against potential legal challenges by those who seek to allow non-citizen voting in Alaska.
“This initiative is about making sure there is no confusion about who is eligible to vote in Alaska,” said former Anchorage Rep. Mike Chenault, who is one of the measure’s sponsors. “Now that it’s headed to the ballot, voters will be able to clarify state statute so that it is crystal clear that someone must be a U.S. citizen to be eligible to vote in state and local elections in Alaska.”
After a thorough review, the Division of Elections confirmed that 34,944 qualified signatures were verified across 40 house districts, exceeding the required minimum of 34,098 qualified signatures across 30 house districts.
The initiative will give Alaskan voters the opportunity to pass a concise statute clarification to Alaska’s voter qualification law to read: “Only a person who (1) is a citizen of the United States; (2) is 18 years of age or older; (3) has been a resident of the state and of the house district in which the person seeks to vote for at least 30 days just before the election; and (4) has registered before the election as required under AS 15.07 and is not registered to vote in another jurisdiction may vote at any election.”
ALASKA WATCHMAN DIRECT TO YOUR INBOX
The initiative will appear as a proposition on the Nov. 3 general election ballot.
“Citizen initiatives play an important role in Alaska’s democratic system by allowing Alaskans to bring proposed laws directly to the ballot,” Dahlstrom said following certification of the initiative. “Confirming proper filing ensures the sponsors have met all legal requirements, and the measure will now advance to the ballot for voters to decide.”
1 Comment
It is troubling this even needs to be on the ballot but if we need to tighten up the state laws to insure we don’t have people voting who should not be than so be it. Still, I am sure the left will finagle it all to suit their ‘needs’ and confused voters will vote for non citizens voting. What a mess.