Alaska Legislature: MISC-20260504-1030

Will the House please come to order?

Will members please indicate their presence by voting?

Will the clerk please tally the board? 33 Members present. With 33 members present, we have a quorum present to conduct business. Mr. Majority Leader.

Mr. Speaker, there are no previous excused absences today.

Leading the invocation this morning is Pastor Charles Enslinger. Of the Kūnei Hee Dee Northern Lights Church. Will members please rise?

As is your disposition, I invite you to be in an attitude of prayer or reflection. Creator God, we give you thanks for the opportunity to be in service and to be active this day. May we not take this day or these opportunities for granted. I pray for these representatives of the state that you will surround them with your wisdom, your peace, and your grace. Fill them with a desire for all truth and the conviction to adhere to the highest standards.

Guide and direct them. May their thoughts, their actions, and their conversations be constructive and beneficial for the people of this great state. And may they be able to abide in peace, even in disagreement. Watch over them this day, I pray. And together we would ask that you surround them, those that work in these buildings, from the pages to the custodians, the security to the staff, with your abiding presence.

I pray this to you, Creator God, in reverence and humility. Amen.

Representative Mears, will you please lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, And to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Representative Story. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move and ask unanimous consent that the prayer be spread across the journal.

Hearing no objection, the prayer will be spread across the journal. Will the clerk please certify the journal for the previous legislative days? I certify as to the correctness of the journal for the 102nd through the 104th legislative days. Mr. Majority Leader.

Mr. Speaker, I move and ask unanimous consent that the journal of the previous days be approved as certified by the chief clerk. Hearing no objection, the journal stands approved. This brings us to introduction of guests. Representative Gelvin. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Firstly, I'd like to ask the Schultz family in the Taylor Gallery to please rise. Mr. Speaker, I have very special guests to introduce today. They are dear friends of mine. And may I have permission to read from my notes? Thank you.

I would like to introduce the wonderful Reverend Matt Schultz and Reverend Elizabeth Schultz. Reverend Schultz is the pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Anchorage, and as well as member of the steering committee for Christians for Equality. Which advocates for social justice for all. He is also a professional artist, earning an art degree from Westminster College before going on to earn two master's degrees from Princeton and Theological Seminary. He also serves on the Anchorage Homelessness Leadership Council and Board of Directors for Covenant House Alaska.

Truly dedicated members of our community. Also, Elizabeth serves as the ordained executive presbyter the Presbyter of Yukon, uh, which oversees dozens of churches, as well as serves on the All Alaska Pediatric Partnership, near and dear to my heart, otherwise known as A2P2. Previously, she served as the community and nonprofit liaison for former Governor Walker from 2014 to 2018. Matt and Elizabeth are proud parents of 3 children and have made their home here for decades. They are here in Juneau with their daughter Anna and Elizabeth's mom, Joy Dare, next to them.

They come to the legislature honoring the memory of Elizabeth's father, Jack Dare, who served in Maryland State Senate for 15 years. And this month they are especially proud parents as their son AJ graduated from the University of Alaska Southeast yesterday at Centennial Hall with a degree in writing. Their daughter Anna, who is here, will graduate from Diamond High Anchorage in 2 weeks. So please help us in celebrating and welcoming them here to the Capitol.

Brief it is. Brief it is.

Will the House please come back to order. Continuing on under introduction of guests, Representative Hannan. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have some guests today that are both District 3 and District 4, and instead of going through all of their amazing leadership roles in the community. I'm going to just give you their names, but in the Peradovich Gallery, if they would stand: Gail Dabalus, Marcela Quinto, Kevin Allen, Darryl and Rinalda Cattianti-Brown, and over in the Taylor Gallery, Kareen and Colleen James.

If you would please help them be welcomed today.

Representative Story. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have some incredible women in the gallery today, in the Taylor Gallery, who many of them I have known for a long time, and I'm pleased to see them here today. They are all here on behalf of supporting our elections bill today. First of all, I'd love to introduce Eunice James, if she could stand please.

Eunice has been very involved in our community and around Southeast Region for a long time. Her most recent job, she's been working for Tlingit and Haida for 11 years as a family caseworker. She is very much committed to the language, this region, and supporting civil rights Next up, I have Andrea Sanders, who is new to Juneau, lives in my district, moved in, but she's not new to Southeast Alaska and the region. She is Executive Director of Native Peoples' Actions. We're very fortunate to have her.

She worked for the First Alaska Institute for a long time. Then I have Alicia Marriott, if she could please stand. She is very active in our community with Alaska Native Sisterhood. She works for Tlingit and Haida with the Johnson O'Malley program. She has been very committed to our students and supporting them.

Next, I have, uh, Della Cheney. We are very honored and fortunate to have Della here today. Dela could rise. She has done so much for our community and our region. She is a fellow with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Dr. Delacheny, she worked in our schools for years with the Indian Studies program. She is a master weaver. She puts so much into our children, our youth, and the culture. She's so much— all of these women believe in civil rights. And please help me welcome them.

I believe there are no other guests to be introduced. Just double checking.

Madam Clerk, are there messages from the governor? I have no messages from the governor this morning, Mr. Speaker. Any messages from the other body? A message dated May 1 stating the Senate accepts the House invitation to meet in joint session at 11:00 a.m. on Monday, May 4, for the purposes of voting to override the governor's veto of Senate Bill 64, elections. A message dated May 1 stating the Senate has concurred in the House amendments to Senate Concurrent Resolution Number 19, thus adopting Senate Concurrent current Resolution Number 19, amended, House, extend West Coast storm disaster.

I have no further messages from the other body. Are there any communications? There are no communications this morning. Are there any reports of standing committees? The Education Committee held a hearing on the following appointees to the Board of Education and Early Development: Joy Cogburn-Smith, Signing the report, Representatives Eichide, Underwood, Schwanke, Dybert, and co-chairs Story and Hemmschulte.

The Labor and Commerce Committee considered House Bill 325, recommends it be replaced with House Committee Substitute for House Bill 325, Labor and Commerce, with the same title. Attached one new zero fiscal note. Signing the report, do pass, Representatives Freer, Colon, Carrick, and co-chairs Hall and Fields. The bill has a further referral to the Judiciary Committee. The Judiciary Committee considered Senate Joint Resolution Number 2, Constitutional Amendment Votes Needed for Veto Override, attached to previously published zero fiscal notes.

Signing the report do pass: Representatives Mena, Eichide, and Chair Gray. No recommendation: Costello, Vance, Kopp, and Underwood. The resolution has a further referral to the Finance Committee. Committee.

The Labor and Commerce Committee considered committee substitute for Senate Bill number 164, Labor and Commerce, eliminate tax discounts. Attached one previously published fiscal note. Signing the report, do pass, Representatives Freer, Carrick, and co-chairs Hall and Fields. No recommendation, Calom. The bill has a further referral to the Finance Committee.

The Education Committee considered committee substitute for Senate Bill number 187, Education, School Nutritional Meal Prohibit Food Dyes, attached one previously published zero fiscal note. Signing the report, do pass, Representatives Eichheit, Dybert, and co-chairs Hemmschulte and Story. No recommendation, Schwanke and Underwood. The bill has no further referral. The Resources Committee considered Senate Bill number 230, Jonesville Public Use Area recommends it be replaced with House Committee Substitute for Senate Bill 230 Resources with a new title, HCR 16.

Attached 1 previously published zero fiscal note. Signing the report, do pass: Representatives Fields, Kellum, Hall, Elam, Prox, Mears, and co-chairs Dybert and Freer. The bill has no further referral, and I have no further reports of standing committees. Are there any reports of special committees? There are no reports of special committees this morning.

Any citations or resolutions for introduction? Honoring Dick Randolph by Senators Myers— excuse me, Senator Myers and Representatives Staff and Prox. And House Concurrent Resolution Number 16 by the House Resources Committee, suspending Rules 24C, 35, 41B, and 42E, Uniform Rules of the Alaska State Legislature, Concerning Senate Bill number 230 relating to the boundaries of the Jonesville Public Use Area, I have no further citations or resolutions this morning. Are there any bills for introduction? There are no bills for introduction this morning.

At this time, the House will stand at ease awaiting the arrival of the other body for the purposes of a joint session.

Will the House please come to order. In accordance with the provisions of Uniform Rule 51, I turn the gavel over to the President of the Senate, the Honorable Gary Stevens. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the joint session of the Alaska State Legislature please come to order. Madam Secretary, please call the roll of the Senate.

Senator Bjorkman. Here. Senator Clayman. Here. Senator Cronk.

Here. Senator Dunbar. Senator Giesel. Here. Senator Gray Jackson.

Senator Hoffman. Senator Kaufman. Here. Senator Kawasaki. Here.

Senator Keel. Here. Senator Merrick. Here. Senator Myers.

Here. Senator Olson. Here. Senator Rauscher. Here.

Senator Steadman. Here. Senator Tilton. Here. Senator Tobin.

Here. Senator Wilkowski. Here. Senator Yunt. Here.

President Stevens. Here. There are 20 members of the Senate present. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will House members please indicate their presence by voting.

Will the clerk please tally the board? 40 Members present. Will the— Madam Secretary, will you please combine the tally? There are 60 members present. Thank you.

With 60 members shown as present, this joint session has a quorum to conduct business. This joint session was called upon under Article 2, Section 16 of the Alaska Constitution for the sole purpose of considering the governor's veto of Senate Bill 64 relating to elections. Madam Majority Leader. Mr. President. Mr. Speaker.

I move that the legislature override the governor's veto of Senate Bill 64. Madam Secretary, please read the title.

House CS for CS for Senate Bill number 64, Finance Amended House an act relating to elections, relating to voters, relating to voting, relating to voter registration, relating to election administration, relating to campaign contributions, relating to write-in candidates for President and Vice President of the United States, relating to the crimes of unlawful interference with voting in the first degree, unlawful interference with an election, and election official misconduct, relating to voter registration on permanent fund dividend applications, relating to the duties of the Commissioner of Revenue, and providing for an effective date. Thank you. Under discussion. Senator Wielekowski. Thank you.

And good morning, Mr. President.

Just for the record, I want to say that I think you're all very smart and very pretty.

In Alaska, we don't measure things in months or election cycles. We measure them in winters. We measure them in the long work it takes to build something that lasts through distance, through disagreement, through conditions that would stop most other people. And for nearly a decade, that's exactly what this legislature has been doing on election reform. This bill was not written in a moment.

Over the last 10 years, the legislature has introduced 164 election-related bills and more than 40 resolutions. 3 Have become law and none significantly changed how Alaska conducts elections. This bill was built piece by piece by members of both parties from every corner of the state. Legislators who don't agree on much but agreed on something fundamental: that every Alaskan deserves a system they can trust. A process that works.

When Senate Bill 64 passed the Senate last year, there were concerns raised by the bill— about the bill by some, and it became very clear that to pass the type of election integrity reform that we need, it would take all of us working together across party lines to get the job done. With the way our House and Senate and Governor are politically aligned, we were headed for another stalemate. Another year of Alaskans knowing that our election system is broken, of Alaskans having their votes thrown out, and us not being able to come to agreement. Not because we don't recognize there is a problem, but because of politics, because it was just too hard to overcome our differences. It would have been very easy at that point to quit.

In the relentless criticism from a few hecklers in the bleachers, yes, it would have been very easy to quit. But instead, we took a chance.

Former Senator Mike Schauer and the representative from Homer, who have been leaders on election issues for many years, agreed to meet. To sit down and see if maybe, just maybe, we couldn't do something. We couldn't come down here and sit down and compromise and finally get the people of Alaska what they have been asking for, for over a decade— meaningful election integrity reform. And the governor's office was right there in the room with us. This may come as a surprise to some of you, but there are not a lot of things that Senator Schauer and the representative from Homer and I agree on.

And our initial discussion— discussions showed that. They insisted we repeal ranked choice voting and get rid of PFD automatic voter registration and much more. I insisted we get rid of witness signature requirements, have permanent absentee ballot box— absentee ballots and ballot boxes across urban areas. It quickly became clear that none of us were going to get all the things that we wanted. And then after dozens of hours of conversations, something happened.

Rather than quit, rather than solely focus on our areas of disagreement that none of us were clearly going to budge on, we decided to focus on the things that we could agree on. Working across caucuses, across philosophies, across years, not to win a partisan fight, but to build something that works. SB 64 does not tilt elections, it strengthens them. It allows Alaskans to track their ballots so they know their vote was received. It creates a process to cure simple mistakes so a missing signature doesn't silence a valid voter.

It improves the accuracy of our voter rolls. It increases transparency, speeds up results, and strengthens confidence in the outcome. Not for one particular party, but for all Alaskans. Now consider who this actually affects. Think about the homebound elder or an active duty service member deployed overseas.

An Alaskan in a remote community may be voting absentee because there's no polling place nearby. Or because weather, work, or distance makes in-person voting impossible. They do everything right. They request their ballot. They fill it out.

They send it in, sometimes days or weeks in advance. And then nothing. No confirmation. No way to know if it arrived. No way to fix a small mistake.

Their voice in our republic gone because of something correctable. SB 64 changes that. It gives the voter a way to track their ballot, a way to fix a fixable error, a way to know that their vote counts. That's not partisan, that's basic, and it's fundamental to our republic, and it's something most other states do. And after all this work, after all the hearings, the revisions, the compromise, after support from the administration along the way, We are told to stop.

Not because the bill became partisan. Not because the policy suddenly failed. But because finishing the work won't be easy. If you read the governor's veto message, he doesn't cite any policy disagreements. In fact, he lists numerous provisions he supports.

Instead, he says he's vetoing the bill because of, quote, quote, "operational burdens," because it's too hard. So he wants to do it next year. Mr. President, it's not easy living in Alaska. But here's what we know. We don't give up in this state.

When it's 2 in the morning and you've been out dipnetting all night and you've caught 45 fish for your family for the winterhead, or you're 6 miles out moose hunting and you're cold and you're wet and you're tired and just want to climb into your bed, you don't quit. You find a way. You power through. Maybe you have an extra cup of coffee. Maybe you have a Snickers bar, but you get the job done because your family is depending on you.

The last thing you do is say, "I quit. Let's just do it next year." When you're putting in a new roof on your home and winter is coming and it's cold, you find a way to get it done. This year. Now. Before the snow starts.

That's who we are. The desire to quit can be strong, especially when things get tough. I'll admit it's been tempting to think about taking the easy way out on this one. To just wait another year. But then I think about the people who send us here not to quit, but to do the hard work and get the job done, to protect their rights, to ensure they can exercise their constitutional right to vote, the foundation of our democracy.

And then I think about people like Suzanne Butcher, the Iditarod sled dog racer, who won the race 4 times and famously said, quote, "I do not know the word quit. Either I never did or I have abolished it. That's the Alaska spirit." Yet here we find ourselves right at the end of a 10-year slog through the cold, the dark, the long nights. We've all put in the time. We've all put in the work.

But one person says, He doesn't want to do it because it's not easy. His answer: "Let Alaskans wait another year." I'm not prepared to tell Alaskans, "Sorry, you'll have to wait another year. It's just too hard." If I told you, "Yes, you have a constitutional right to purchase a firearm, but the background check system was too hard to set up and would take a year." And some of you might get rejected and have to wait until next year to get your firearm. I can assure you the system will be fixed immediately. Sometimes when people are ready to quit, when they're ready to give up, they just need a little encouragement.

And I'm here to tell the governor, don't quit on us. Don't quit on Alaska. You can get this done this year. And the reason I know that he can get it done this year is because he's done it before. In 2022, just 4 years ago.

Mr. President, rather, Mr. President, I rise to a point of order. Mason's 111-1 says we are not to refer to the executive in order to influence a vote. I would also raise the point that Mason's 122-2, we should not impugn motives by calling them partisan. Thank you, Representative Sadler. Please continue, Senator Wolkowski.

Thank you. In 2022, just 4 years ago, Congressman Don Young passed away on March 18th, 2022. On April 28th, just 5, 6 weeks later, the governor's Division of Elections announced that ballot tracking would be available by the company Ballot Tracks for the June 11th, 2022 election. 6 Weeks. They got a ballot tracking system set up in 6 weeks, just 4 years ago.

You can see the press release in the packet that's on your desk at Appendix page 5. In this bill, we're giving the Division of Elections 26 weeks to implement ballot tracking. On Appendix pages 3 and 4 of that packet, you can see in an email response response to my amazing intern, Phoebe Pepper, where a different ballot tracking company— my office contacted multiple ballot tracking companies— a different ballot tracking company called Enhanced Voting, who does ballot tracking for the states of Georgia, Nevada, New Mexico, Virginia, that they have implemented statewide ballot tracking in 30 days. But that 90 days from the first intended election, quote, is a much more comfortable timeframe. Frame.

Here, the general election is 182 days away. I know that Governor Dunleavy can implement ballot tracking and ballot curing because in 2022, an election year, he himself introduced Senate Bill 167 and House Bill 286, bills that would have required tracking and ballot curing for the August 2022 election. Unlike this bill, which delays the effective date until the November general election, his bills provided for a July 1st, 2022 effective date, thus requiring the Division of Elections to implement both ballot tracking and ballot curing within less than 2 months. And I know that the Nunleavy administration can do ballot tracking because in his March 31st, 2026 executive order, President Donald Trump ordered states to do ballot tracking. And while 23 other states have filed a lawsuit to strike down this order, Alaska was not one of them.

And I know it's not too hard for the Dunleavy administration to do ballot curing this general election. How do I know that? I have a point of order. Please state your point of order, Representative Johnson. Thank you, Mr. President.

Again, Masons 111. We should not refer to the other branch or to the governor to influence the vote. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, Representative Johnson. Senator Wilkowski.

Mr. President, perhaps someone can explain to me how I'm not to refer to the executive branch when referring to an action by the executive branch.

In the last midterm election, there were a total of 413 curable ballots. Most of them Republican, by the way. And the Division of Elections asked for 5 new temporary workers for ballot curing. Even assuming it's too hard for the division to set up a ballot curing system, they can just as easily set up an Excel spreadsheet. And with 5 new employees, that comes out to less than 100 ballots for each new worker.

And in the bill, we extended the time for the division to review ballots, so it comes out to each new worker dealing with about 10 ballots per day. On Appendix page 2 of that packet, you will see that the ballot tracking language in Senate Bill 64, this bill, came from the Dunleavy administration, developed with vendors refined to address implementation concerns. The resources needed to implement this bill have been identified and are provided. The scale of ballot curing is manageable. It's hundreds of ballots, not thousands.

And we've already done ballot tracking before, so this is not about whether it can be done. It can. Across the country, states of every size and political makeup have adopted these tools. Ballot curing exists in more than 30 states, Sam Kido, JR. Ballot tracking exists in 46 states.

Red states, blue states, rural states, urban states. This is nothing experimental. It is standard. And yet, instead of debating what is actually in the bill, we've seen something else. Arguments built on fear, not facts.

Sam Kido, JR. Concerns raised about possibilities while ignoring the reality in front of us that Alaskans are counting on us to make these changes to ensure their voices are heard. There is an adage among lawyers that says, if the facts— if you have the facts on your side, pound the facts. If you have the law on your side, pound the law. If you have neither the facts nor the law, pound the table.

We've heard a lot of table pounding about this bill, not a lot of facts about why the bill is bad. Because when a bill is built in the open, across parties, across years. The only way to attack it is to make people doubt themselves. In Alaska, when we build a road, we don't quit at the last mile. We don't walk away because the ground gets hard.

We don't abandon it because conditions changed. And we for sure are not going to be stopped because someone from Florida wrote a few blog posts about it.

We finish the road because people are depending on us to do that. This bill is that road. It's a road to a better election system, one with better transparency and one that will instill confidence and transparency in our voting system. And this road was not built for Democrats. It was not built for Republicans.

It was built for Alaskans. It is how Alaskans get from their voice to their vote, to their government. For 10 years, the legislature has been laying that road together. A veto at this stage doesn't, doesn't just stop a bill, it sends a message. It tells every legislator who worked in good faith across party lines that their work can be set aside at the end of the road.

It tells the public that even when we do it right, even when we come together, Even when we build something carefully, deliberately, over years, it's not enough. That is not a message that we should accept. The governor suggests we just give up, that we start all over again, that we use this bill, quote, "as a starting point." I have no interest in starting all over on this, Mr. President. We've got too much time into this. I have no interest in being Charlie Brown again, when Lucy pulls the football away as he tries to kick it.

We've seen that move far too many times from this governor. Alaskans have no interest in us starting all over again and having the football pulled away again. We've come too far to quit now. That's not happening. We have a chance right now.

We're not going to be leveraged over the gas line or capital projects for a common sense bill that Alaskans are demanding. We're not going to quit on the Alaskans who have sent us here to get the job done. Let's let Senator— Representative Snyder, make your statement. Thank you, Mr. President. Mason's rules that we obey here in the House say you're not to impugn, question, or consider false or questionable the motives of people taking a position on a bill.

Thank you. Please take that under advisement. Yes, under Rule 235, I request a ruling.

A brief adieu.

Will the joint legislature please come back to order? This point was made about making sure we do not impugn anybody's motives. I understand that. I take that under advisement. And Senator Wilkoski, would you please consider that?

Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. President, we are not going to quit on Alaskans who sent us here to get the job done. We don't know if we'll ever get a chance to do a bipartisan bill like this again. This vote is not about convenience. It's not about politics.

It's about whether this body keeps its word to each other and to the people of Alaska. We built this together through long winters, through disagreement, through good faith work. And now we stand right at the end because we do not turn back, because Alaskans never quit, especially at the last mile. I urge you to vote yes on this override. Thank you.

Thank you, Senator Murkowski. Is there discussion?

Is there further discussion?

Seeing none, we'll go to Representative Vance.

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE] I've been mulling over what to say. What could one possibly say over a historical vote this monumental?

So I don't have anything prepared today, Mr. President, but I would like Alaskans to know that when I read the Constitution, it says that all political power is inherent in the people.

When we cast our vote, we exercise that right over our government.

And right now, our system is broken where not every vote is being counted. Our rolls have not been tightened up to the level that builds confidence, that ensures people that they have a legal vote. My constituents tell me that every illegal vote cancels out their legal one, thus nullifying their voice.

This bill cleans up those rules. It provides tightened data security, privacy for your data, your, your voter information.

It provides assurance through ballot tracking, ballot curing.

It helps provide a rural liaison to make sure that polls can be open so that if someone wants to be able to vote in person on Election Day, that they have that option.

The Senator from Anchorage mentioned that 164 bills have been introduced in the past decade relating to elections. I've been here for 8 of them, and I've been on those committees, and so the vast majority of those bills have been across my desk, and I have scrutinized them. I have worked on them and amended them to great detail.

Election integrity and the sovereign voice of the people is a passion of mine. I would not be risking everything on the line. I would not be taking the impunity, the accusations, the rumors, the threats, the threats and the bullying if I did not firmly believe in every Alaskan's right to vote to be counted.

This is fundamental as Americans. When we start measuring policy based on outcomes instead of to the voter, we're not, we're not exercising the the trust in government. We're playing politics. That's not what I came here to do. I swore an oath to the Constitution and to the people of Alaska, and I intend to uphold that promise and that oath, that no one is going to influence my decision or take priority over that oath.

So I will be voting to sustain and override. It's not about any one individual, but about every Alaskan.

President Ronald Reagan once said, "The right to vote is the crown jewel of American liberties, and we will not see its luster diminished." We've lost that luster here in Alaska. Over time. Senate Bill 64 helps it shine brightly once again. When we are focused on putting that sovereignty of our citizens back into their hands through the vote, then we are putting government rightly where it belongs, and that's in the hands of the people. So I ask you to support this override today because Alaskans are depending on us to put that sovereignty back into their hands.

Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, Representative Vance.

Um, Representative Schwonke. Thank you, Mr. President. I'll be fast. This is an easy no for me. I have two insurmountable problems with this bill.

Number one, the statewide ballot Curing process as written with a 10-day rule simply does not work for the majority of our hardest-to-reach, most distant rural communities. I cannot agree, uh, with the bill as written. This does not provide an equitable opportunity for all of our voters. The second thing I hope everybody pays a little attention to here going forward: this bill defines true source donors for ballot initiatives. It permanently masks individuals who have the financial means to influence ballot initiatives in the state of Alaska.

Permanently.

I will be sustaining the veto. Thank you, Representative Swanke. Is there further discussion?

So I believe, uh, Representative Cherek. Thank you, uh, Mr. President. I'm going to be voting to override the veto of Senate Bill 64 for two really important reasons. First of all, we establish a ballot curing process for absentee ballots which are used in primary by our military population and by folks in rural Alaska. Secondly, Mr. President, I think perhaps most importantly, I am voting for an override on Senate Bill 64 because this is a bill which primarily benefits voters in rural Alaska by improving access to voting.

If we want to support better access to voters in rural Alaska to get their ballots in and have those votes be counted, So voting to support Senate Bill 64 is the way to go. In 2024, several polling stations in this state did not open in rural Alaska. This bill helps by providing a rural community liaison to help troubleshoot and support communities where those challenges are occurring. Secondly, this bill provides that tribal IDs may be used by federally recognized tribal members as legitimate forms ID. This is incredibly important clarifying language.

And Mr. President, Mr. Speaker, many other valuable points in this bill have been brought forward already. I won't reiterate them, but for those two extremely important reasons and for the great benefit that this bill brings for rural voters in our state, I'm going to support a veto override for Senate Bill 64. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, Representative Kerrek. Is there further discussion?

Is that— I'm sorry, Senator Tobin. Thank you, Mr. President. Well, Mr. President, I believe in democracy and I believe in the will of the people. The people's will is their vote. Their vote is their voice, and I believe that voice should be heard.

During the 2024 general election, approximately 1.7% of all voters in Alaska had their voices, their vote, their will silenced because their ballot was rejected by the Division of Elections. In 2022, 1.6% of those voices were also silenced. Now, we know in 2022, a majority of the rejected ballots came from my district. And if we look closer, the numbers show an incredibly disturbing trend, because again, in 2024, 123 ballots were rejected from Senate District I. 53 Of those were rejected because of the witness signature.

Now, we don't know exactly where those votes came from, but I represent Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson. And I believe many of those silenced voices were members of our military. Now just imagine being a soldier, an airman stationed overseas defending democracy and not having your voice heard here in Alaska.

We can do better, Mr. President, and I believe Senate Bill 64 is a better approach. It's a better approach for Alaskans. Senate Bill 64 includes some very common-sense election reforms. Now, one of the things I think is really important to note is on the 2024 comprehensive report to Congress, the U.S. Election Assistance Commission said three-quarters of states allow for ballot curing. We know that by overriding this veto on this compromise elections bill, we will ensure the citizens of Alaska have the same rights to have their voices heard as 33 other states, states like Arizona, Florida, Georgia, and Missouri.

Mr. President, Senate Bill 64 does many things. It cleans up our voters' rolls, it protects their confidential information, and it ensures the timely release of election results. One of the things we all know that's incredibly important is it provides for that ballot tracking system, a system that will ensure our military members overseas know that their voice is being counted.

I'm especially impressed with the work that was done on this collaborative, bipartisan, bicameral approach. It takes good work, hard work to get it right, and Senate Bill 64 gets it right. I'd like to end my remarks with a quote from the late great Senator— excuse me, Congressman John Lewis.

Permission to read, Mr. President? Without objection, so ordered. The vote is precious. It is almost sacred. It is the most powerful nonviolent tool we have in a democratic society, and we've got to use it.

I urge members to join me in voting to override the gubernatorial veto. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Senator Tobin. Is there further discussion? Representative— I'm sorry, Senator Koch, please go ahead.

Thank you, Mr. President. I really probably wasn't going to talk, but I feel I have to. I think part of the issue with this bill is what's not in the bill versus what's in it. You know, we—. Yeah, is it a perfect bill?

Absolutely not. Absolutely not. But what's in it is a good bill. I'm going to go through a few of the things here. Ballot tracking.

I can look at the two reddest states in America, Texas and Florida, and have ballot tracking involved in their election. Ballot curing. Two of the reddest states in America, Texas and Florida, have ballot curing. Um, some of the discussion we've heard about, um, paid postage. Well, you know what, I don't know how many people lived in rural Alaska and trying to get something out.

Paid postage, I've always wondered Why in the heck isn't this paid postage already there? This just helps people. Tribal ID, rural liaison. Boy, I sure heard a lot of talk about that. Has anybody ever been out to rural Alaska?

Have you lived there? Have you experienced an election there? Because I think a lot of people are talking about that or haven't been out there. I've, in fact, you know, since I became a legislator, had numerous phone calls. Hey, Mike, we don't have our ballots.

Mike, we don't have any ballot workers. Is it too much to ask that we have a rural liaison to check on these, you know, everybody, get things organized and make sure the ballots are there, make sure we have ballot workers? One village in fact had ballots there, but they didn't have any box to put them in, so they just set them in a clear box on the table. Is that acceptable, or can we do better by having a liaison that can call and check on us? I represent a third of the state, many, many villages, some on the road, some on the river, some flying.

We obviously do have a problem with sometimes in elections, and, you know, I'm looking at any way we can help to make the election better. When it comes to ballot curing, my dad served our country for 20 years. I remember going to the polls with him. He always said, this is our most precious right, right? And right now he can't make it to the polls, but he can cast a mail-in ballot.

And the ballot curing part. I'm not there to help him fill out his ballot to make sure he has everything on there. So are we going to say that, hey, my— maybe my dad forgets that signature, that his vote doesn't count? I, I think that's really a shame if we're going to look at that. And I think anything that makes voting easier, um, legally, um, but make sure every vote counts.

If, if I lose an election because a little old lady in Arctic Village had to cure her ballot and that one ballot cost me my election, so be it. Aren't we here to make sure every vote counts? So I am going to be overriding, um, on this bill, and, and I think other people should because this bill actually helps our elections in Alaska. It's not a Republican bill, it's not a Democrat bill, it's an Alaskan bill. So thank you, Mr. President.

Thank you. Senator Cronk. Is there further discussion up in the front here? Representative Prax.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm going to be opposing the override vote. I think that, you know, I appreciate the effort that went in it and the intent that went in it, into it.

But I don't think that on balance that it really cures the underlying problems. The— there is an underlying problem with inaccurate voter rolls, and that I think is primarily because of the Motor Voter Act and the automatic registration change on PFD applications. And I don't think it's taking into consideration the mobility of Alaska voters. You can come in, you have to get a driver's license within 30 days, I think it is, but a short time to— after you go to work. And then you might be here living in a hotel or someplace, and a month later you change your address to another district.

That affects the accuracy of the voter rolls.

And that we can't do anything about the motor voter, but we exacerbated that with the PFD application, where your PFD application automatically changes your voter registration unless you opt out of doing that. And that was, in fact, a factor in a very close race. In Fairbanks a few years ago. Somebody put their business address instead of their home address on their PFD application, and they— that moved them out of the district that they were supposed to be voting from into a new district, so their vote wasn't counted. Things can and do go wrong.

The mail service, if nothing else, it's highly dependent on the weather and a whole bunch of other factors that make that unreliable, and I think it's an unrealistic expectation, in fact, the timelines that are set up that could really disrupt an election if it's close. This doesn't matter in most elections, but it— elections come down to a single vote. More often, or, you know, a few votes more often than we think. And I think that's going to cause a lot of problems. And then mainly, it doesn't cure, or it makes the security of an absolute, or of an absentee ballot, more insecure than voting in person.

When you go vote vote in person, there is somebody there, an election worker, that verifies that you are you when you vote. But in an absentee voting situation, there isn't an official person there to witness that it was in fact you that voted and that you did not vote under duress. And just, it was a problem, and I've worked this couple of years at the election office when right now you can't tell who witnessed it. And we should have made it more clear that at least the name of the witness could have been on the ballot envelope for an absentee ballot.

And maybe we'd have been able to detect the possibility. I don't know. We haven't proven that it has happened, but we haven't proven it because it's very difficult to detect. But if the witness signature was, if nothing else, printed, and it should be, then you can pick up, and you might ask the question, why did Joe Blow witness 10 or a dozen ballots, which would amount— could amount to ballot harvesting. But it is very difficult to detect that under the current rules, and this bill makes that even more difficult to detect.

So I appreciate the effort. I am really concerned that this— that the Division of Elections no matter how hard they try, because of the Postal Service, will not be able to— or there's a very high probability that they just won't be able to do it. And then also there is a greater risk of ballot harvesting because we've eliminated any requirement for a witness signature. So for that reason, I am going to uphold the governor's veto. Thank you.

Thank you, Representative Frax. Representative McCabe. Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. Speaker, good morning.

I want to take a moment this morning, today, to apologize. Not for my vote. I stand by my vote on this bill. I'm apologizing to Alaskans who will bear the cost of this veto. They deserve to hear it said plainly.

First off, Mr. Speaker and Mr. President, to our military members serving overseas on bases far from home: I'm sorry. You will still have no way to track your ballot. You will still have no way to track your vote, to know if your vote made it home to your home state in time to count an election that might be important to you.

You do the hardest job in the country. You do the hardest job that we ask of anyone. You deserve to know your vote was received. SB 64 would have given you that.

To Alaska Native voters in our tribal communities, I'm sorry. The Director of the Division of Elections recently confirmed in writing that tribal ID has always been acceptable. Identification for voting in Alaska since HAVA, 1980. The division never advertised it. They never trained their personnel for it.

And as a consequence, some of you may have been turned away for trying to use your tribal ID, or you may not just not have gone because all you had was your tribal ID.

To every absentee voter whose ballot was rejected in 2024 over minor paperwork errors on the outside of the ballot. I'm sorry. A missing signature, an unclear copy of identification, a small mistake that had nothing to do with whether you were eligible to vote or not, whether you said you were who you said you were, whether your ballot inside was ready to go. 735 Of you could have been salvaged under voter curing. In the 2024 election.

Of the 1,300, or close to 1,300 ballots that were rejected, were thrown away, destroyed, 735 could have been cured. And of those 735, not one of you knows if it was you or not. It could have been somebody in this room if you voted absentee.

To our rural communities, Alaskan communities like Dillingham, King Salmon, and Aniak, I'm sorry. In 2024, the Division of Elections sent you the wrong ballots. You were forced to vote. You were forced to vote on sample ballots copied from the Division of Elections pamphlet. Then your ballots were sent to the Division of Elections and transposed by somebody else.

That you don't know. Not secret. You had no idea.

There was nobody specifically responsible for ensuring that the proper ballots got to those villages. Nobody. SB 64 would have solved that.

To every Alaskan who votes absentee, because they have to, because they're out in the bush or out in the village somewhere and doesn't have a stamp or two stamps, as was the case in some ballots last year, I understand, or last election, I understand. I'm sorry. SB 64 would have provided a postpaid envelope at minimal cost to the state of Alaska, less than $100,000. I think I heard $55,000 in committee. To give a postpaid envelope to people who need, who want to vote, but they don't have a stamp.

Did you not vote because you didn't have a stamp? If that was the case, I'm sorry.

To the voters who want to know who is actually funding the ballot measure campaigns they are seeing on television, again, I am sorry. SB 64 included true source disclosure requirements that would have exposed the real money behind ballot measure campaigns, the people and organizations actually writing the checks rather than the conduit groups passing the money through. Dark money has distorted Alaskan elections for decades. We're a cheap date. Everybody knows it.

Everybody says it. With the minimal amount of voters we have, an experiment such as ranked choice voting can easily be put through on Alaskans with outside money, which it was, in fact. To every Alaskan who has watched election results trickle in for days past election night and wondered what was happening and why it takes so long, including the rest of the United States, I'm sorry. SB 64 moved the absentee ballot review start date from 7 days prior to the election date till 12. That means faster counts, means we can start earlier, get our work done faster, and we can have the election results to Alaskans and to the United States of America before 30 days.

I think it took us a month to certify our election this last 2024. To the voters whose data was exposed in the 2020 Division of Elections vendor breach, again, I am sorry. SB 64 required the division to publicly disclose data breaches involving confidential election information within defined timelines and to notify legislative leadership before certifying results if a breach occurred near Election Day. That accountability requirement is gone. If it happens again, there is no statutory obligation to tell you quickly.

To election observers, candidates, and political parties who wanted stronger access to watch the counting process. I'm sorry. SB 64 required daily public release of updated tabulation data, precinct counts, absentee ballot logs, and count codes every day. Results— every day the results are released. That transparency would have made it harder to question outcomes and easier to verify them.

The veto leaves that current opaque reporting system in place.

To the voters who will try to repeal ranked choice voting in November and who needed every legal tool available to them to win that fight, I am sorry.

In 2024, the repeal effort fell short by 743-ish votes, I think. Significantly, I mentioned it early, earlier, there were 700, and it failed on the absentee count. We were winning until the ranked choice repeal was winning until the absentee count.

Remember when I said 735 ballots could have been cured and they were thrown out?

This one might be the most important one, Mr. President. Former Senator Mike Schauer, we owe you a particular apology. You helped build this bill. You carried similar legislation yourself when you served in this body. You understood that fixing administrative failures is part of election integrity, not separate from it.

Your work on the early framework of SB 64 deserved recognition throughout this debate. Instead, your name was largely absent from the coverage and your contributions were ignored by the very people that should have been crediting you. I am sorry your work was not properly acknowledged. The legislature should have done better by you. History will.

To the Alaska news media, we owe you apology— an apology as well, and I will take my shared responsibility for this one. Many of you reported on this bill with inaccurate or incomplete information. Provisions were mischaracterized. Claims were made about what the bill did that a simple reading of the text would have corrected. Some of that falls on the sources pushing bad information.

Some of it falls on us in this body. We did not do enough to explain this bill clearly, early, and repeatedly to the people whose job it is to inform the public. We let the critics and naysayers with an agenda define the bill before we did. We assumed the merits would speak for themselves. They did not, and Alaskans were worse informed because of it.

I am sorry for that failure. We will do better. I voted for this bill. I fought for this bill. These apologies are not rhetorical.

Every one of them is grounded in a specific provision of the enrolled bill or a documented failure of this process. Every one of them represents a real Alaskan who will be worse off because this veto stands. The status quo is not neutral. It has a cost.

Today I'm asking you all in this room to put a face on that cost. That face is an Alaskan face. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Representative McCabe. Is there further discussion Senator Bjorkman.

Thank you very much, Mr. President. I rise today to talk about why I appreciate the work done by the member from Big Lake, the member from Homer, the senator from Muldoon, and so many people who want to see responsible, reliable, secure elections. Before I came to this body, I worked with the member from District 8 on an elections bill to improve security in borough elections so that our citizens on the Kenai could know that their vote counts. Nationally, we hear lots of conversations about a desire for voters who go to the polls to be able No, to be required to show a picture ID in order to vote. Ladies and gentlemen, for folks at home, this bill goes a long way toward accomplishing the goal of photo ID.

It makes it illegal, unacceptable, inappropriate for a voter to go to the polls and show a hunting license, or utility bill in order to be able to vote.

Currently, under current law, a person wishing to vote can go and do that. That's a problem. Having a stronger standard and a stronger force pushing people to show a photo ID, that's an improvement. I think that's really what voters expect.

Also, voters expect our voter rolls to not contain people who should not be able to vote. This bill allows for a process to clean our voter rolls.

We would not need to release everyone's confidential voter information to the federal government if we simply had a process in place that took care of our own house and cleaned up our own voter rolls so that we get rid of folks who are inactive. The bill before us that we have an opportunity to enact today cleans the voter rolls. This is what Alaskans expect.

As we go forward and look at this process in a national climate where so many people are in favor of the SAVE Act, in favor of stronger, tighter regulations about reliable elections and increasing election security, this bill that we have an opportunity to enact today with a veto override goes a long way in moving us closer to that standard where people have to show a photo ID They can't get away with a hunting license or a utility bill anymore, which could be anyone's.

There are not thousands and thousands of people on those voter rolls who have long since moved out of state because our law and the Federal Voter Registration Act doesn't allow them to be removed. This bill has those provisions in it. Why, in a culture, in a state where so many people value election security and integrity, would you not vote to enact a bill and override this veto which meets the needs and desires of so many people in our community?

I've seen elections conducted poorly. I was a poll watcher in Detroit when Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was up for reelection. The things I saw there during that election, pretty wild. But I have confidence Our elections here in Alaska, they don't look anything like that because we value our vote, we value the integrity of the process, and we can make that process even stronger by overriding this veto today.

I look forward to seeing the outcome of this vote. I am a little more positive than the member of Big Lake. I hope that people have courage today to vote yes. I hope they have courage today to stand up for voter ID requirements, for cleaning the voter rolls, to make sure that the people who are going to the polls to vote are who they say they are. That's what this bill does.

A NOVO today is really a continuation of the current system, which has major problems.

A NOVO today says you're okay. With people showing that utility bill, showing that hunting license that they just printed off an hour ago for an ID that says, "Hey, yeah, this is me, I promise." Is it?

We have the ability today to take action. It's an incremental step to improve election security and integrity. Is it perfect? No, but nothing ever is. Let's not let perfect stand in the way of the good.

Please vote yes to override. Thank you. Thank you, Senator Bjorkman. Representative Josephson, or instead Senator Hoffman. Thank you, Mr. President.

I represent rural Alaska, and all too often, many of them are reluctant to go to the polls because they don't think that their vote would count. But as I sit here today and listen to all the individuals from urban Alaska wanting to assure that when they go to the polls, their votes are going to count, all Members of, or citizens of this state should feel that they are a participant in their government when they go to the polls, take the time, the effort to review all of the ballot measures, to research their candidates, to do everything and all the information that you send to them. About you and why you are the best candidate.

They are reviewing all that information.

They are weighing that information.

That is important to you, but it's more important to them. All of us have sent out ballots, claiming that we're going to do the right thing, we're going to represent the people to the best of our ability.

Well, now is a chance for you to vote and do what you think is right to the best of your ability to make sure all of the people that voted for you and those that did not get their votes counted are corrected. And I would agree with the Senator from Soldotna, don't let the perfect getting— get in the way of the possible. I would say this, this is a very, very giant step forward. Sure, there may be one or two little items that you disagree with, but there are 50 or 100 better reasons that are being fixed for the people of Alaska, and we should not be blocking out their votes. Their vote should be counted.

Maybe one day that one vote that is counted as a result of this piece of legislation will ensure your reelection. Maybe it won't. But please, please make sure that every citizen of this state that wants to get a vote does the hard work, reviews all the data, does the research, Their vote will be counted. I would encourage a yes vote. Thank you.

Thank you, Senator Hoffman. Is there further discussion?

Seeing none, in wrap-up, Senator Wilkowski. Thank you, Mr. President. A couple comments were made, and I'd like to clarify some things there. There seemed to be some confusion about witness signatures, I thought I heard. Witness signatures are still required under this bill.

They are not taken out. There was some concern about ballot curing doesn't work for some.

It's not a perfect system, I would agree. But I would also agree, don't let the perfect get in the way of the good. This is going to allow people who make small mistakes, whether they're deployed, whether whether in remote parts of Alaska, to have an opportunity to fix their ballot envelope. Not the ballot, the ballot envelope. The division is required to contact them by email, text, and mail.

And, and we think that this will allow the fixing of several hundred ballots. Like I said, 413, it's not a huge amount. 413 In the last midterm election, higher in the last general election. We're in a midterm election coming up. It's not a huge number.

But let's be clear about what this vote means. In 2022, there were 114% more registered voters than eligible Alaskans. This bill fixes that. If you don't vote to override, you're voting to allow someone who's registered in another state to continue to vote in Alaska. You're voting to allow someone who served on jury duty in another state to vote in Alaska.

You're allowing someone that gets a residential property tax exemption in another state to continue to vote in Alaska. You're voting to allow someone who has sworn under penalty of perjury that they are residents of another state so they can get public assistance in that state to continue to remain registered to vote in Alaska. If you vote against this override, you're voting against directly making it a crime making it a crime to tamper with voting machines. You're voting against making it a crime to tamper with ballot envelopes. You're voting against making it a crime for election officials to leak election results before polls close.

If you vote against this override, you're voting to allow people to, instead of having to use official government-based IDs when voting, to be able to print off a paycheck or utility bill or bank statement on their home computer and use that as ID when they vote. If you vote against this override, you're voting against allowing over 130,000 30,000 Native Alaskans, roughly 1 in 5 of every Alaskan, from using tribal IDs when they go to vote. This is something that's been accepted by the Division of Elections since 1980, and tribal IDs are accepted as valid forms of identification under the Trump administration TSA. If you vote against the override, you're voting to say that the soldier who is deployed overseas and mistakenly transposes their identifier identifier on their ballot is out of luck and their vote, if they make a mistake on it, doesn't get to count and you have no chance to fix it. This isn't a hypothetical.

As you heard, the district with the most curable ballots in the state of Alaska was Jay Bair. You're telling the elder whose handwriting might not be as clear as it used to be and the election worker can't read their identifier information that their ballot doesn't get to count. If you vote against this override, you're killing ballot tracking, something that 46 other states do. Shouldn't the oil worker on the North Slope on a 2-week shift who can't get back to vote, or the senior in the Pioneer Home in Sitka who can't physically go to vote, be able to ensure that their ballot is received? If you vote against this override, you're voting against provisions improving cybersecurity in our election system so our elections can't be hacked by foreign actors.

In the last election, we heard a lot of concerns about how long it took election results and the transparency of what ballots had been counted. We fixed it in this bill. We're going to certify elections 5 days earlier. If you vote against this override, you're voting against quicker results and transparency. Our voting laws are so outdated that the Division of Elections can't even buy new polling booths because the dimensions that are required in statute are not even made anymore.

This bill fixes that. In recent elections, there have been villages where people, as we've heard, never even got a chance to vote. Ballots never even got there. Polling places never even opened up. This bill creates a rural liaison to work with those communities and allows the division to be more flexible with paying poll workers to ensure that they can get adequate staff.

A vote against this bill says to the tens of thousands of people in rural Alaska, we're not going to take any action this year and try to fix it. Maybe we'll do it next year.

This bill has been a decade in the making, passed with bipartisan support and reflected in the governor's own stated priorities in previous legislation filed.

I urge your yes vote. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Senator Wielekowski. Madam Majority Leader, will you please describe what we will be voting on? Yes, Mr. President, Mr. Speaker, a yes vote is in favor of overriding the veto of Senate Bill 64.

A no vote will maintain the governor's veto. This vote requires 40 votes in the affirmative to override the veto. Thank you, Madam Majority Leader. If you are ready for the question, the question being, shall the legislature override the governor's veto of Senate Bill 64? Mr. Speaker, House members may proceed to vote.

Will the clerk please lock the roll?

Does any member wish to change his or her vote? Madam Clerk. 23 Yeas, 17 nays. Thank you. Madam Secretary, please call the roll of the Senate.

Senator Tilton. No. Senator Tobin. Yes. Senator Wilkowski.

Yes. Senator Yunt. Yes. Senator Bjorkman. Yes.

Senator Clayman. Yes. Senator Cronk. Yes. Senator Dunbar.

Yes. Senator Giesel. Yes. Senator Gray Jackson. Yes.

Senator Hoffman. Yes. Senator Kaufman. No. Senator Kawasaki.

Yes. Senator Keel. Yes. Senator Merrick? Yes.

Senator Myers? No. Senator Olson? Yes. Senator Rauscher?

No. Senator Steadman? No. President Stevens? Yes.

Do any senators wish to change their vote? Madam Secretary, please tally and announce the vote of the Senate. 15 Yeas, 5 nays. Madam Secretary, please tally and announce the combined vote. 38 Yeas, 22 nays.

Thank you. And so by a vote of 38 yeas and 22 nays, the joint legislative session has failed to override the governor's veto of Senate Bill 64. Madam Majority Leader. Mr. President, I move that the joint session be adjourned. Thank you.

Without objection, the joint session is adjourned. The House will stand at ease to allow the Senate to exit.

Will the House Police come to order? At this time, the House will stand at ease until 1 PM.