Legislature(2001 - 2002)
04/19/2001 03:45 PM Senate STA
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* first hearing in first committee of referral
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= bill was previously heard/scheduled
SB 187-ABSENTEE AND SPECIAL NEEDS VOTING
LORETTA BROWN, staff to Senator Ward, introduced SB 187 for the
sponsor. She read the following sponsor statement.
This legislation will require the director of elections
to notify the voting public of all absentee in person
voting locations at least 60 days prior to an election.
It will also provide a uniform statewide opening date for
absentee in person voting. Currently the location and
opening periods for absentee voting stations is at the
discretion of the director of the division of elections
and requires no public notice. This has lead to some
inconsistencies in opening dates and voting locations.
SB 187 requires that the director of the division of
elections provide full public notice of the location of
all absentee voting stations at least 60 days prior to
each election. No new absentee voting station sights may
be added or opened after the 60-day notification period.
Absentee voting stations will be operated on or after the
15th day before a primary, general, or special election.
Qualified voters may apply in person for an absentee
ballot at the absentee voting station on or after the
15th day before an election up to and including the date
of the election. Absentee voting stations cannot be
opened early.
Having a uniform state wide opening date and prior
notification of all absentee voting in person locations
will make for less confusion for the voters and a more
even playing field for all concerned.
Basically, the bill removes the discretionary powers of opening and
closing voting stations from the director of elections and sets
those times in statute. In addition, voting stations are identified
60 days prior to elections and new stations may not be opened after
that 60 day period passes.
On page 2, line 9, AS15.20.048(b) is referred to and gives the
director the discretionary power to open the absentee stations more
than 15 days before an election. The committee substitute (CS) for
SB 187 removes this option altogether.
CHAIRMAN THERRIAULT asked whether there were any questions on the J
version of the bill. There were none.
SENATOR DAVIS moved the J version (Kurtz 4/19/01) as the working
document. There was no objection.
CHAIRMAN THERRIAULT asked whether he was correct in stating the
director still has some latitude on when the absentee stations open
so long as there is the required public notification and they all
open up at the same time.
MS. BROWN said that the bill says stations may not be opened more
than 15 days prior to an election. It also requires prior notice so
all voters know where the voting station will be.
GAIL FENUMIAI, Election Program Specialist from the Division of
Elections, wanted to clarify a number of issues. The division has
historically published absentee voting locations from one to three
weeks prior to Election Day. For general elections, locations are
published in the official election pamphlet and mailed to the
households of all registered voters about three weeks prior to the
election.
There are two types of absentee in person voting. The first type is
through an absentee voting station, which SB 187 specifically
addresses. There were just 14 of those during the primary and 15
for the general election. Stations have all 40 House district
ballots and in the last primary there were the four regional
election offices in Juneau, Anchorage, Fairbanks and Nome that
served as absentee voting stations. There was also a Kenai
Peninsula office located in Soldotna that operated as a station.
Access Alaska operated as an absentee voting station in Anchorage
and there was a station in Prudhoe Bay that was operational four
days prior to and through Election Day. The University of Alaska,
Anchorage, was open the Monday before the election and on Election
Day for the primary. During the general election the University of
Alaska, Fairbanks was also open for voting during that same period
of time. The airports at Juneau, Sitka, Ketchikan, Kodiak,
Anchorage and Fairbanks are all open on Election Day to serve as
absentee voting stations.
Other locations are single district locations in small communities
that have absentee voting officials but generally the only ballots
available are for that particular district.
The reason for starting absentee voting early in the general
election is because they had statutory authority to do so and the
ballots were delivered early. People called with unforeseen
circumstances and asked whether they could vote early. Since they
had the ballots and the statutory authority to allow individuals to
vote early they decided it was their duty to do so.
The division feels that a newspaper notice of 60 days is too long
for people to remember where the voting locations will be. For the
August 22nd primary the division advertised August 3rd through the
10th and then the following week.
CHAIRMAN THERRIAULT asked whether there is a problem with setting a
certain date so everyone knows the date the stations would open.
Individuals going out of town could vote by mail.
MS. FENUMIAI said that's correct but sometimes people are not
terribly cooperative. Historically, they have had no difficulty
with all absentee in person voting starting the 15th day before the
election. The November election was a rare occurrence in which the
ballots arrived eight days early.
CHAIRMAN THERRIAULT asked her preference on advance notice for
advertising an election.
MS. FENUMIAI thought 30 days would be a good starting point with
additional notices run 21 days prior to the election and final
advertising run between the 15th and 8th day before the election.
CHAIRMAN THERRIAULT said he realizes the division does not get
additional funding if they advertise over a longer period of time
but the first advertisement could start earlier and subsequent
advertisements could run closer to the election day.
MS. FENUMIAI said that would be possible. Voting information is
also posted on the elections home page and it is the same
information that appears in printed advertisements. They are
already required by statute to give location and time notice for
absentee in person voting. Setting the statutory date for when this
must be started is acceptable but 60 days is too far out to be
beneficial to the voters.
CHAIRMAN THERRIAULT asked Ms. Brown to explain why 60 days was
selected.
MS. BROWN said voters and campaigners need to have notice of where
the locations will be and when they will open so they may depend on
those as they go through their campaign process. She did not
believe shortening the time frame a bit would be a problem.
CHAIRMAN THERRIAULT responded that candidates certainly could call
the division of elections for that information. He asked whether
the reluctance comes from the possibility that a candidate might
prepare printed material advertising a certain polling station and
then the division of elections could switch the location.
MS. BROWN said yes.
SENATOR PHILLIPS said that can be a problem. Candidates print
campaign materials giving polling location information and then
learn the division of elections has made a change making all the
printed material inaccurate. He thought it only fair to ask the
division of elections to have that information set far enough in
advance so the candidate does not spend time and money
disseminating voter information that is ultimately inaccurate.
MS. FENUMIAI said the division tries its best to have polling
places secured by June 1 but there are unforeseen circumstances
that require changes. They do try to notify voters of the changes
made to accommodate emergency situations but it is a frustration
that is borne by everyone.
Absentee voting stations and absentee voting officials are
generally set on a June 1 time line because the division needs to
know the number of locations there will be so that supplies may be
ordered. To the best of her knowledge, an additional absentee
voting station has never been added several days before absentee
voting started if, for no other reason, there would not be enough
supplies, workers or ballots available to accommodate an additional
station. Occasionally an absentee voting official is added in small
communities where an election board cannot be found.
CHAIRMAN THERRIAULT thought 60 days was too long.
SENATOR DAVIS moved amendment 1 on page 2, line 1, which changes
"60" to "30".
SENATOR PHILLIPS wanted to ask the sponsor whether 30 days was
acceptable.
MS. BROWN said she thought Senator Ward would like to see a longer
length of time.
SENATOR PHILLIPS suggested 45 days.
SENATOR DAVIS did not support 45 days.
CHAIRMAN THERRIAULT said Senator Ward is a member of the finance
committee so they could pass amendment 1 and he could address the
issue in that committee.
CHAIRMAN THERRIAULT asked whether there was objection to amendment
1 changing "60" to "30" on page 2, line 1. There was none. He noted
the zero fiscal note.
He asked for any other testimony. There was none.
SENATOR PHILLIPS moved CSSB 187 (STA) J version and accompanying
zero fiscal note from committee with individual recommendations.
There was no objection.
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