00                      SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 8                                                                     
01 Relating to supporting polling places at military installations and reserve component                                   
02 facilities.                                                                                                             
03 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                               
04       WHEREAS the Department of Defense (DoD) issued a directive that disrupted the                                   
05 traditional authority of military base and post commanders to allow local election officials to                         
06 set up voting booths at military installations and reserve component facilities; and                                    
07       WHEREAS this action makes it more difficult for thousands of military personnel                                 
08 and their families to vote; and                                                                                         
09       WHEREAS recent election history has shown that every vote is important in deciding                              
10 an election; and                                                                                                        
11       WHEREAS Alaska has a long tradition of voting at military installations and reserve                             
12 component facilities that could end as a result of the DoD directive; and                                               
13       WHEREAS Alaska has twelve polling places that could be made unavailable for                                     
14 future elections by the DoD directive, including polling places at military installations and                           
15 reserve component facilities in Kodiak, Ketchikan, Kenai, Kotzebue, Nome, Scammon Bay,                                  
16 and the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, and on Ft. Richardson, Ft. Wainwright, Elmendorf Air                                 

01 Force Base, and Eielson Air Force Base; and                                                                             
02       WHEREAS the U.S. House of Representatives responded to the negative effects the                                 
03 DoD directive would have on Americans in uniform and their families by passing H.R. 5174                                
04 on October 12, 2000, to ensure the voting rights of Americans who live on military bases and                            
05 posts; and                                                                                                              
06       WHEREAS H.R. 5174 allows the Secretary of a military department to make any                                     
07 building at a military installation or reserve component facility under the Secretary's                                 
08 jurisdiction available for use as a polling place in any federal, state, or local election; and                         
09       WHEREAS once that site is made available for an election, H.R. 5174 provides it will                            
10 remain available for subsequent elections, unless the Secretary notifies the Congress in                                
11 advance of the reasons the building will no longer be used in that capacity;                                            
12       BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature respectfully requests the                                      
13 President of the United States and the United States Secretary of Defense to countermand any                            
14 directive that impedes the rights of American citizens to vote at election sites at military                            
15 installations and reserve component facilities.                                                                         
16       COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable George W. Bush, President                              
17 of the United States; the Honorable Donald Rumsfeld, U.S. Secretary of Defense; Lieutenant                              
18 General Norton A. Schwartz, Commander, Alaskan Command, U.S. Air Force; Admiral                                         
19 Dennis C. Blair, Commander in Chief, U.S. Pacific Command, U.S. Navy; Major General                                     
20 James J. Lovelace, Jr., Commanding General, U.S. Army Alaska; and to the Honorable Ted                                  
21 Stevens and the Honorable Frank Murkowski, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young,                                  
22 U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in Congress.