Legislature(2003 - 2004)
2004-02-27 Senate Journal
Full Journal pdf2004-02-27 Senate Journal Page 2320 SB 356 SENATE BILL NO. 356 BY THE SENATE RULES COMMITTEE BY REQUEST OF THE GOVERNOR, entitled: "An Act relating to qualifications of voters, voter registration, voter residence, precinct boundary modification, recognized political parties, voters unaffiliated with political parties, early voting, absentee voting, ballot counting, voting by mail, initiative, referendum, recall, and definitions; and providing for an effective date." was read the first time and referred to the State Affairs and Finance Committees. The following fiscal information was published today: Fiscal Note No. 1, zero, Department of Law Fiscal Note No. 2, Office of the Governor 2004-02-27 Senate Journal Page 2321 Governor's transmittal letter dated February 25: Dear President Therriault: Under the authority of article III, section 18, of the Alaska Constitution, I am transmitting a bill relating to the state's elections statutes. This bill would update statutes on qualifications of voters, voter registration, voter residence, precinct boundary modification, recognized political parties, voters unaffiliated with political parties, early and absentee voting, ballot counting, voting by mail, initiatives, referendums, recalls, and definitions. The updates are necessary to reflect current practices of the Division of Elections and to bring the statutes into compliance with recent court decisions and federal law. Section 1 of the bill would amend two provisions in AS 15.05.020 on rules for determining the residence of a voter. It would amend AS 15.05.020(2) to clarify that "temporary work sites" do not constitute a dwelling place; this provision formerly referenced "construction camps." Section 1 also would amend AS 15.05.020(10) to reference the official voter registration "record," rather than "card." Section 2 of the bill would amend AS 15.07.060(a)(4) on required registration information, to specify that the applicant must provide the applicant's Alaska residence address. Section 3 of the bill would amend AS 15.10.090 on notice of precinct boundary designation and modification, to require that notice be published on the Division of Elections' Internet web site, to provide that written notice need not be posted in a physical place if notice is published in a newspaper, and to reduce the number of places where notice is posted from three places to one place. Section 4 of the bill would amend AS 15.15.350(a), on the general procedure for a ballot count, to require that the accounting for all ballots prepared by the election board include the number of ballots returned to the elections supervisor for destruction. 2004-02-27 Senate Journal Page 2322 Sections 5 and 6 of the bill would amend AS 15.20.064 on early voting, to allow the director of elections to designate other locations, in addition to election supervisor offices, for early voting. Section 7 of the bill would amend AS 15.20.066(b) on absentee voting by electronic transmission, to lower the number of witnesses required from two to one. Sections 8 and 9 of the bill would amend AS 15.20.081(d) on absentee voting by mail or electronic transmission, to lower the number of witnesses required from two to one, and AS 15.20.081(h) to change the reference to military addresses from "APO or FPO address" to an "overseas voter qualifying under AS 15.05.011." Section 10 of the bill would amend AS 15.20.800 on voting by mail to specify that a ballot will not be sent to a voter whose address has been identified as undeliverable. Section 11 of the bill would add a proposed new section, AS 15.20.910, on voting system standards, incorporating recent federal requirements under the Help America Vote Act. Section 12 of the bill would amend AS 15.45.030 on the form of the application for an initiative petition, to require additional information from the sponsors. Section 13 of the bill would amend AS 15.45.060 on designation of sponsors for an initiative, to specify that sponsors support the bill proposed by the initiative application. Section 14 of the bill would amend AS 15.45.090 on preparation of petitions, to require the printed name and date of birth of those signing an initiative petition. This section also would require that initiative petitions be sequentially numbered, and removes the requirement that the lieutenant governor keep a record of petitions delivered to sponsors. These amendments are proposed to comply with the state Superior Court's decision in the case of Hinterberger v. State, 3AN- 03-4092 CI (October 21, 2003). 2004-02-27 Senate Journal Page 2323 Section 15 of the bill would add a proposed new section, AS 15.45.105, to specify the qualifications of an initiative petition circulator. Section 16 of the bill would amend AS 15.45.120 on the manner of signing and withdrawing a name from an initiative petition, to require additional information from initiative petition signers. Section 17 of the bill would amend AS 15.45.130 on the certification of circulators for an initiative petition, to reference the proposed new section on qualifications of an initiative petition circulator, and to delete the requirement that the circulator's name be prominently displayed on the petition. This latter requirement has not been enforced for some time in order to comply with the United States Supreme Court opinion in Buckley v. American Constitutional Law Foundation, 525 U.S. 182 (1999), under advice from a formal opinion of the state attorney general's office, 2000 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 3 (September 22). Section 18 of the bill would amend AS 15.45.200 on display of the proposed law, to reduce the number of copies of a law proposed by an initiative displayed in the polling place from three to one. Section 19 of the bill would amend AS 15.45.270 on the form of the application, to conform the requirements for a referendum application to those required for an initiative application. Section 20 of the bill would amend AS 15.45.290 on designation of sponsors, to conform the requirements for a referendum sponsor to those required for an initiative sponsor. Section 21 of the bill would amend AS 15.45.320 on preparation of a petition, to conform the requirements for a referendum petition to those required for an initiative petition. Section 22 of the bill would add a proposed new section, AS 15.45.335, to set out the qualifications for a circulator of a referendum petition. 2004-02-27 Senate Journal Page 2324 Section 23 of the bill would amend AS 15.45.340 on circulation, to incorporate the prohibitions and penalties applicable to initiative petitions and apply these to circulation of referendum petitions. Section 24 of the bill would amend AS 15.45.350 on the manner of signing and withdrawing a name from a petition, to require additional information for signing a referendum petition. Section 25 of the bill would amend AS 15.45.360 on the certification of circulators, to conform the requirements for circulation of a referendum petition to those required for circulation of an initiative petition. Section 26 of the bill would amend AS 15.45.430 on display of the act being referred to in the referendum, to reduce the number of copies of the act displayed in the polling place from three to one. Section 27 of the bill would amend AS 15.45.500 on the form of the application, to specify similar requirements for a recall application to those required for an initiative application, including deleting the requirement that recall petition circulators be registered voters. Section 28 of the bill would add a proposed new section, AS 15.45.515, on the designation of sponsors for a recall application using language similar to the statute on initiative petition sponsors. Section 29 of the bill would amend AS 15.45.560 on preparation of the recall petition, to impose requirements similar to the requirements for an initiative petition. Section 30 of the bill would add a proposed new section, AS 15.45.575, on qualifications of circulators to set out the qualifications for circulation of a recall petition. Section 31 of the bill would amend AS 15.45.580 on circulation, to add requirements on circulation of a recall petition similar to those for circulation of initiative petitions. 2004-02-27 Senate Journal Page 2325 Section 32 of the bill would amend AS 15.45.590 on the manner of signing and withdrawing a name from a petition, to require additional information from recall petition signers. Section 33 of the bill would amend AS 15.45.600 on certification of circulators for a recall petition, to add similar requirements to those for circulation of an initiative petition. Section 34 of the bill would amend AS 15.45.680 on display of grounds for and against recall, to reduce the number of copies displayed in the polling place from three to one. Section 35 of the bill would add a proposed new section, AS 15.60.003, to set up categories for voters who are unaffiliated with political parties. Section 36 of the bill would add a proposed new section, AS 15.60.008, to set out the requirements for recognized political party status. Section 37 of the bill would amend the definition of "political party" in AS 15.60.010(21) to use the election for any statewide office, rather than solely the Office of Governor, as the benchmark for attaining the voter support necessary for political party status. Section 38 of the bill would amend AS 15.60.010 by adding new definitions of "re-registration" and "statewide office" for the purposes of AS 15 on elections. Section 39 of the bill would provide that the changes made by sections 12 - 34 of the bill apply to an application for an initiative, referendum, or recall that is filed with the lieutenant governor on or after the effective date of the bill. Section 40 of the bill would provide that the elections statutes, as they existed before the amendments made by sections 12 - 34 of this bill, would apply to an initiative, referendum, or recall for which the application was filed before the effective date of the bill. 2004-02-27 Senate Journal Page 2326 Section 41 of the bill sets out a revisor's instruction related to the addition of proposed AS 15.20.910 in section 11 of the bill. Section 42 of the bill would establish an immediate effective date for the bill. I urge your prompt and favorable action on this measure. Sincerely yours, /s/ Frank H. Murkowski Governor