SB 39 could disproportionately impact rural voters

A public testimony regarding Senate Bill 39, which enacts tighter voting regulations, will take place on Thursday, February 25. The legislation, introduced by Wasilla Republican Senator Mike Shower, has proven controversial among Alaskans.

According to Shower, his intent for proposing the bill is to make Alaska’s election system more secure. However, some, including Golovin Democrat Senator Donny Olson, say it’s a voter suppression bill that would disproportionately impact rural voters. “It’s a bill by an Anchorage legislator that makes it more difficult for rural Alaskans to vote,” Olson said.

Among other things, SB 39 makes registering to vote more difficult and limits voting by mail. Olson is strongly against the legislation, but Nome Democrat Representative Neal Foster said that he has not yet taken a position on the bill and plans to hear both sides before determining how to vote. However, Foster added,

“I can say that I do not support any efforts to make voting more difficult.” Both Foster and Olson believe that SB 39 would do just that.

Olson was particularly concerned with the proposed changes to voter registration. Currently, Alaskans can automatically register to vote when they fill out a Permanent Fund Dividend application. Under Shower’s bill, however, Alaskans would need to check a separate box. Shower changed the language of the legislation from “does not decline” to be registered to “requests” to register. According to the text of the bill, checking the box “clearly indicates that the applicant is requesting to be registered.” This extra step will likely result in fewer registered Alaskan voters and thus fewer voters overall. Olson pointed out that the additional step is even more difficult for people in rural areas who often have slow and spotty internet.

Another aspect of the bill Olson believes will impact rural areas is a section that makes it a crime of “unlawful interference with voting in the second degree” to collect a ballot from another person. The only exceptions to this are if the individual is a family member, household member or caregiver of the other voter or if they are an election worker, postal worker or a private commercial delivery service. This section, Olson noted, will disadvantage rural Alaskans simply because there are more steps to returning a ballot. For instance, it would be illegal for an individual to take the ballot of an elderly neighbor to the post office, or to give to a non-commercial pilot or boat captain to deliver. Similarly, it would be illegal for an individual to deliver and return ballots to individuals in quarantine.

Shower’s legislation would also impose several limits on voting by mail, which worries Foster. The option to cast an absentee ballot, he said, is particularly important for voters who might be at camp or otherwise unable to go to the polls on election day. And, although Nome voters can cast ballots early at the elections office, this is not an option in the villages. “This makes voting by mail an important alternative,” Foster said.

A further change is that, as the law stands, Alaska voters have options for returning their absentee ballots, including by mail and by fax. Shower’s proposed legislation would prohibit voting by fax.

The bill would ban cities and boroughs from automatically sending ballots to all registered voters. It would also take away the state’s ability to automatically send out ballots, which would impact Regional Educational Attendance Area elections, such as Bering Strait School District’s school board elections.

The legislation would also re-impose the witness requirement. Due to the pandemic, a judge last fall waived the requirement that an absentee ballot be signed by a witness. Shower’s bill would reinstate this mandate when the emergency declaration expires. The COVID-19 emergency declaration expired on Sunday, February 14.