Legislature(2021 - 2022)BUTROVICH 205
02/16/2021 03:30 PM Senate STATE AFFAIRS
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| SB43 | |
| SB39 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| += | SB 43 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | SB 39 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
SB 39-BALLOT CUSTODY/TAMPERING; VOTER REG; MAIL
3:54:06 PM
CHAIR SHOWER reconvened the meeting and announced the
consideration of SENATE BILL NO. 39 "An Act relating to
elections; relating to voter registration; relating to ballots
and a system of tracking and accounting for ballots;
establishing an election offense hotline; designating as a class
A misdemeanor the collection of ballots from other voters;
designating as a class C felony the intentional opening or
tampering with a sealed ballot, certificate, or package of
ballots without authorization from the director of the division
of elections; and providing for an effective date."
He listed the individuals available to answer questions and
advised that the committee would first hear invited testimony
from Heidi Covey.
3:55:28 PM
HEIDI COVEY, Chair, Nikiski Election Precinct, Nikiski, Alaska,
stated that she was invited to share what happened at the
Nikiski Precinct during the recent election. Her testimony was
as follows:
This year was a challenging year for all of us with
the pandemic. None of us have been through a pandemic
before, which obviously opened up some election
differences for us. This year we all were introduced
to a new voting system in the state. In that action we
were unable to even have training in person because,
again, of the pandemic. All that was done via either
calling in to the state, via the internet, or we
actually had CDs.
3:56:27 PM
November 3 was a challenging day for I would say every
election official statewide. We had a higher turnout
and it was a very intense, passionate election. I can
speak for my community, which for the record is one of
the areas in our state - Birch Creek and Nikiski have
a higher percentage of voter turnout anywhere in our
state. Before 6:30 in the morning, we already had
people lining up out the door to come and vote in this
election.
So, we were already under that pressure, under that
gun. The other thing we also had that day, because of
higher volume and people very passionate... In my
community, in my borough, we had just the month prior
we had just voted down vote by mail, of which my
community is extremely passionate about. Actually, our
borough is.
Because of the pandemic, there was a decision made to
mail out ballots. That absolutely caused stress for a
good number of the people in my community. Because we
had just voted it down, not only in October but we
also voted it down in 2014. To automatically have
ballots mailed out to these individuals it very much
upset them. And being front line workers, we were the
ones that had to handle that in-person, eyeball-to-
eyeball, with the voters of our area.
We had that obstacle and in that obstacle they were
physically bringing in those ballots, handing them to
us and we were having to destroy them and throw them
away. Plus also, we heard them say "Hey look you know
this was a decision made by the pandemic for those
people in charge in Juneau."
Lets see, we had higher numbers - we had that we also,
because the passion of the people - trying to keep it
organized and moving - there were a lot of people that
were passionate about the team that they represented.
That was another challenge we faced - trying to make
sure there was no campaigning taking place in the area
of the vote being held. We had to monitor parking lots
- it was intense on both sides. This was the first
time that we have ever had to contact the State
Troopers to do drive-bys just in case of the passion
and in case there were conflicts. I personally had to
ask three individuals to help monitor our parking lot
just for those reasons, because of the passion that
people had for this election.
3:59:38 PM
Integrity and security is probably one of those things
I would have to say that is important if you are an
American citizen. Understanding that the integrity of
any election and the security of any election is
foremost - almost as important, I would say as our
national defense. Our elections in our country
absolutely, absolutely affect our world. And as an
election official, the mail-in ballot thing, I'm
extremely concerned about. Just for the fact that
integrity is something that you do by yourself. How do
we secure those mail out ballot? We have a system in
place - it's an absentee that we request in
circumstances of which we need them. That system
absolutely has served good for everybody that I've
ever known. This mail-in thing is kind of creating a
little bit of a problem and I can tell you that that
is a grave concern and I can tell you the people of
the Kenai Peninsula Borough definitely sent a message
saying "Hey, we don't want that because we want secure
elections."
CHAIR SHOWER thanked Ms. Covey for the testimony and said he
thought it was germane to hear from a frontline worker to
provide context and describe issues they may have seen.
4:01:45 PM
SENATOR REINBOLD commented that she found it amazing that the
borough voted against vote by mail and ballots were sent anyway.
She thanked Ms. Covey and other election volunteers.
4:02:11 PM
CHAIR SHOWER asked what the Division of Elections instructed
precincts to do with the mail-in ballots that voters handed to
election workers.
MS. COVEY answered that the instructions were to destroy those
ballots.
CHAIR SHOWER relayed a conversation his office had with [an
election worker] from Eagle who said that her precinct was
instructed to mail all unused ballots back to the Division of
Elections.
4:03:11 PM
SENATOR KAWASAKI asked Ms. Covey if she said that people in her
area received mail-in ballots that they had not requested.
MR. COVEY answered yes.
SENATOR KAWASAKI asked if any of those people would testify to
that or sign an affidavit that lays out exactly what happened
because he would like to get to the bottom of the complaints. He
noted that the Division of Election tracks the requests for
ballots and they are not supposed to send out ballots without a
request. However, in this last election the Lieutenant Governor
did direct the Division of Elections to send ballot applications
to people who were age 65 and older.
CHAIR SHOWER confirmed that ballot applications were sent to
anybody over age 65 regardless of request.
SENATOR KAWASAKI asked Ms. Covey to provide more clarity if she
could.
CHAIR SHOWER asked her to forward any supplemental information
to his office.
MS. COVEY agreed to do so.
4:05:27 PM
CHAIR SHOWER asked the first question on the list of possible
questions for the Division of Elections. [Copies of this handout
were in the bill packets.]
1. What protocols does the Division of Elections
utilize that guarantees the most accurate voter
rolls?
4:05:53 PM
GAIL FENUMIAI, Director, Division of Elections, Juneau, Alaska,
explained that the division follows the list maintenance
procedures in AS 15.07.130. The division also receives weekly
information from the Court System to use for felony
inactivations, information from other states about double
registrations, information from the Division of Health,
Analytics, and Vital Records related to deceased voters, and
staff scans obituaries statewide to identify deceased voters as
well as receiving this information directly from a relative.
Alaska also participates in the Electronic Registration
Information Center (ERIC) that uses a secure multistate data-
matching tool that is designed to improve accuracy of voter
rolls. Further, registrations are canceled based on individual
requests and the division runs internal duplicate registration
reports.
CHAIR SHOWER asked if she or the lieutenant governor have the
authority to use additional state and federal databases or if
the legislature would need to provide statutory authority. He
asked if there would be any associated costs if the legislature
did provide statutory authority to use other databases.
MS. FENUMIAI deferred the question to the Department of Law.
4:08:21 PM
CORI MILLS, Acting Deputy Attorney General, Civil Division,
Department of Law, Juneau, Alaska, said she believes that would
require a statutory change, but it depends on how the
information is couched in terms of confidentiality. She offered
to look at the specific databases he was interested in to make
the determination.
CHAIR SHOWER solicited a response from the representative from
the Lieutenant Governor's Office.
JOSH APPLEBEE, representing the Lieutenant Governor's Office,
said Ms. Mills and Ms. Fenumiai answered the question
specifically.
CHAIR SHOWER asked if there were questions.
4:09:57 PM
SENATOR KAWASAKI noted that there were 36 questions on the list
and suggested that they could be answered off line.
4:10:14 PM
CHAIR SHOWER said he was trying to give the committee an
opportunity to pose questions directly to the Division of
Elections and the Lieutenant Governor's Office to generate
discussion for the public record.
SENATOR KAWASAKI asked whether the committee would receive
written answers to each of the questions.
CHAIR SHOWER said he had not asked for written responses but he
was willing to forward the questions to all the relevant
entities.
4:11:12 PM
SENATOR KAWASAKI said some of the answers should be part of the
public record but receiving all the answers in writing would
make the information easier for members to digest.
CHAIR SHOWER said he had been asked to have these individuals
come before the committee to answer questions but he was happy
to ask for the answers in writing.
SENATOR REINBOLD said she would prefer to get the answers in
writing.
4:12:33 PM
CHAIR SHOWER said he was happy to go either way but the experts
were here now.
SENATOR REINBOLD asked Ms. Fenumiai why her staff scans
obituaries and suggested the division could instead request the
official death certificates.
4:14:05 PM
MS. FENUMIAI replied the division receives from the Division of
Health, Analytics, and Vital Records a monthly list of the
individuals who have death certificates in the state of Alaska.
She said she believes it is a legal question whether the
division can request the death certificates. She suggested that
Ms. Mills or Mr. Flynn might be able to respond now or the
division could follow up with a written response.
SENATOR REINBOLD recalled previous testimony she thought was
from the Heritage Foundation listing possible ways to cross-
reference voter rolls. She emphasized that this was important
because the Division of Elections' work was the foundation for a
representative republic.
4:15:42 PM
MS. FENUMIAI said the division does the best it can to keep the
voter records accurate and clear under the constraints of the
National Voter Registration Act and state law. The division
cannot remove voters from the rolls because they do not vote; it
requires a process that is defined in both federal law and AS
15.07.130.
SENATOR REINBOLD asked whether the division has any way to track
people who has moved out of state.
MS. FENUMIAI answered that moving out of state does not negate a
person's right to remain a registered voter in the state of
Alaska. AS 15.05.020 has an intent to return provision and there
are also some residency issues under the Alaska Constitution.
She deferred further explanation to the Department of Law.
4:17:20 PM
SENATOR REINBOLD described it as a serious red flag that people
remain on the voter rolls even when they no longer vote or have
moved out of state. She asked if she heard this correctly.
MS. FENUMIAI answered that the division is able to cancel Alaska
voter registrations upon notification from another state that
somebody registered to vote and indicated that they previously
registered to vote in Alaska. The division also participates in
the ERIK program that does cross-state voter registration
database matching from 30 member states and the District of
Columbia. The list maintenance law also has qualifying factors
for removing names such as undeliverable mail, not voting or
appearing to vote for two General Elections, and no voter
contact. She offered to send the committee a detailed
explanation of the division's list maintenance process.
SENATOR REINBOLD expressed frustration that so many people were
receiving ballots when they no longer live in Alaska, "including
my kids." She referenced an earlier presentation that claimed an
area had more people registered to vote than the population. She
emphasized her commitment to find solutions.
4:19:29 PM
CHAIR SHOWER asked Ms. Fenumiai to email the detailed
explanation of the division's list maintenance process as well
as the response from the Department of Law regarding part of
Senator Reinbold's question. He asked her to clarify the
question and who might provide the answer.
MS. FENUMIAI emphasized that the division takes voter roll
accuracy and list maintenance very seriously. If the legislature
wants to change that process, she said the division will comply
so long as the change complies with the National Voter
Registration Act. She suggested that either Ms. Mills or Mr.
Flynn talk about the intent to return language currently in
statute.
4:20:24 PM
MS. MILLS cited the first part of the first sentence of art. V,
sec. 1, Constitution of the State of Alaska:
Every citizen of the United States who is at least
eighteen years of age, who meets registration
residency requirements which may be prescribed by law,
She explained that the requirements that may be prescribed by
law refer to AS 15.05.020. Rules for determining residence of
voter. She agreed with Ms. Fenumiai that it is the intention to
return, not a physical presence in the district. She deferred
further comment to Mr. Flynn.
4:21:23 PM
THOMAS FLYNN, Assistant Attorney General, Civil Division, Labor
& State Affairs Section, Department of Law, Anchorage, Alaska,
added that there is sometimes a misconception that a person must
be a resident for a certain period, but residency is established
30 days in advance of the election. Once residency has been
established, the original address used to register to vote is
presumed to remain. Subsequent paragraphs discuss specific ways
residency changes.
SENATOR REINBOLD said it was still not clear.
4:22:16 PM
SENATOR KAWASAKI referenced the invited testimony from the
election worker from Nikiski and asked how it could have
happened that people who did not request ballots somehow got
ballots.
MS. FENUMIAI said she could not think of a way for that to have
happened, because the division does not mail ballots to any
voter unless they first receive a complete and valid request for
an absentee by mail application for that voter.
SENATOR KAWASAKI asked, should Ms. Covey supply the names,
whether she could check to see if the division had a record of
receiving a valid request for an absentee ballot and that the
division sent a ballot.
MS. FENUMIAI answered, "Most definitely, if we had names of
individuals we could look into our voter registration database
to determine if we had an application on file and/or if a ballot
was sent to a voter." She added that it seems that a large
number of pre-filled absentee ballot applications were sent to
voters during the Primary and General Elections and the division
received many calls from people who believed they had received a
ballot. However, the division determined "it was one of these
mini, multiple by-mail applications that were sent to their
home."
4:24:22 PM
CHAIR SHOWER advised that his office asked both the Division of
Election and the Lieutenant Governor's Office that same question
and they turned some information over to law enforcement. He
said he was still waiting for answers but the question was
germane and he was very interested in the answer. Was it a
ballot or was it an application?
4:25:24 PM
SENATOR HOLLAND noted that his child moved away from the house
about three years ago and ballot applications still arrive for
that child. He added that he voted absentee for the first time
this year and he could understand that people could get confused
about the difference between a ballot application and a ballot.
He wondered whether some people misunderstood that they received
a pre-filled ballot application, not a ballot.
CHAIR SHOWER said it was a good point because in addition to the
state, organizations are able to send out ballot applications
and there were more of both this last election cycle.
CHAIR SHOWER asked question 20 on the list of possible questions
for the Division of Elections.
20. Exactly what data was gained by the hack? Security
ID protocols? Absentee applications data?
Addresses? Drivers License numbers? Last 4 digits
of SSN? Digital signatures?
4:27:00 PM
CHAIR SHOWER further asked if any of the data that was stolen
was sufficient to be used on a fraudulent ballot that could be
sent to the Division of Elections.
4:27:10 PM
MS. FENUMIAI answered that the data that was exposed was voter
names, addresses, date of birth, last four digits of the Social
Security number, driver's license number, state ID number, party
affiliation, and email address, all of which is also available
on the Division of Elections' website.
MS. FENUMIAI clarified that this was a data exposure, not a
hack. She continued to say, "The outside actor was able to
access information but was not able to change any information.
The outside actor also had no access to any vote-counting
processes." Responding to the second question, she said the
division is continuing to looking into the data exposure, but a
review of the 2020 election found no evidence of fraudulent
activity. "For example, there was not an increase of duplicate
voting as one would expect if this information had been used in
a fraudulent manner, especially when the overall turnout for
voting by mail and the overall turnout for the election had
increased."
CHAIR SHOWER restated the question, asking if any of the exposed
data was sufficient to be used to fill out a ballot that the
division would accept, assuming that it was the only ballot from
that voter.
4:29:16 PM
MS. FENUMIAI explained that the division would first have to
have received an absentee ballot application that included all
the required statutory information for that voter. Second, the
returned ballot must have a voter signature, a voter identifier,
and (with the exception of the 2020 election) a witness
signature.
CHAIR SHOWER restated the question and asked her to answer.
MS. FENUMIAI answered that the division would accept the ballot
if the division had received an application for the ballot, the
ballot had the required information previously listed, and the
ballot was received timely.
4:30:34 PM
CHAIR SHOWER asked if the state has any chain of custody policy
or process to know who touches a ballot from the time it leaves
the Division of Elections to the time it returns to the
division.
MS. FENUMIAI deferred the question to Carol Thompson to discuss
the details of the absentee process.
4:31:35 PM
CAROL THOMPSON, Operations Manager, Division of Elections,
Office of the Lieutenant Governor, Wasilla, Alaska, explained
that the division tracks receipt of the ballot application, when
the ballot was sent, and when the division received the voted
ballot. Once the ballot is returned, the division verifies the
voter's information including the identifier, signature, and
witness signature prior to the 2020 General Election.
CHAIR SHOWER asked if there was a chain of custody process to
allow the division to know who touches a ballot when it leaves
the Division of Elections, who receives the ballot and returns
it, and who touches the ballot during the return to the Division
of Elections. He asked, "What does the division know from the
time it leaves the division until it gets it back?
MS. THOMPSON replied there is no tracking per se, but if the
legislature were to pass legislation requiring ballot tracking,
the division would comply to every extent possible.
CHAIR SHOWER said his point was to show that there is no chain
of custody. He acknowledged that it would require statutory
changes to mandate ballot tracking and/or to look at multiple
databases to cross-reference voter registrations. The idea is to
make the system better, he said.
4:34:41 PM
SENATOR REINBOLD asked Ms. Fenumiai if she saw any anomalies in
the 2020 General Election and if she believes that striking down
the witness signature requirement could have affected the
election in any way.
MS. FENUMIAI answered that she was not aware of any anomalies
and did not have a response to the second question. She added
that the division followed the court's direction.
SENATOR REINBOLD again asked for her opinion in whether or not
striking down the witness signature requirement could have
affected the election in any way.
4:35:40 PM
MS. FENUMIAI answered that it was her professional opinion that
it did not affect the election.
4:35:55 PM
SENATOR REINBOLD asked who broke into the election system data,
how it happened, what can be done with the data, and if the
problem is fixed.
MS. FENUMIAI said the division has a summary of the state's
preliminary investigation, which explained that outside bad
actors exploited a flaw that allowed the exfiltration of voter
information. The attack was automated and allowed quick access
to "this PII." The flaw was fixed and the division is working
with the State Security Office on other security measures.
SENATOR REINBOLD asked who specifically exposed the data, what
that entity can do with the data, and if they still have access
to that data. For example, could it be used to apply for a
credit card?
MS. FENUMIAI replied she previously stated the data that was
exposed. It was voter names, residence and mailing addresses,
date of birth, last four digits of the Social Security number,
driver's license number, state ID number, party affiliation, and
email address. She said she did not know if someone could get a
credit card with that information, the investigation is ongoing,
and she only knows that outside actors were responsible for the
data exposure.
4:38:38 PM
SENATOR KAWASAKI referred to Section 6 that asks the division
director to provide by regulation a system to account for each
used and unused ballot and absentee ballot certificate and
envelope. He asked how the division would create a regulation
that would account for the used and unused absentee ballots
without being inside the voter's house and watching what
happened to those ballots
MS. FENUMIAI replied she was not prepared to respond because the
division would first need to determine the kind of regulation
that would satisfy the requirement. She added that the division
does track the number of ballots that are mailed out and the
ones that are returned.
4:40:02 PM
SENATOR KAWASAKI pointed out that subsection (c) in bill Section
6 requires the director to account for each used or unused
ballot before certifying the election under AS 15.15.450. He
asked if that would put the division director in a position
where certification of an election might not be done under AS
15.15.450.
MS. FENUMIAI answered that could be the case.
4:40:36 PM
SENATOR KAWASAKI said it needs to be easier for the division to
administer.
CHAIR SHOWER responded that significant changes are forthcoming
and the issue of easier administration could be discussed after
that or in the next committee of referral.
He asked why the state was paying for protection services if the
data cannot be used.
MS. FENUMIAI said she was not sure whether the information could
be used for financial gain, but it was the voter registration
vendor who paid for the credit monitoring service, not the
state. She suggested that Mr. Applebee might have something more
to add.
4:42:38 PM
CHAIR SHOWER asked for the name of the contractor that the
Division of Elections used for the computer forensics on the
data breach.
MS. FENUMIAI said she would follow up with the information if
she was able to release the name.
MR. APLEBEE agreed with Ms. Fenumiai that the identity
monitoring service vendor paid, not the state.
CHAIR SHOWER asked question 14 on the list of possible questions
for the Division of Elections.
14. Can a voter dispute their vote and what is the
process?
MS. FENUMIAI said she did not believe there was process in state
law for a voter to dispute their vote. It is a misconception to
think that a voter can ask the Division of Elections which
candidate received their vote and then dispute the results.
Ballots are not associated with specific voters so once a ballot
is comingled and counted, it cannot be retrieved.
4:44:09 PM
CHAIR SHOWER said he wanted to highlight that some states have
the ability to qualify ballots as opposed to rejecting them. His
office is looking at having provisions in place so that the
division can correct a ballot a voter disputes.
CHAIR SHOWER asked question 15.
15. Can a person vote twice by mistake? If so, how?
MS. FENUMIAI asked if question 14 was referring to a cure
provision for people who vote by mail.
CHAIR SHOWER said that was correct.
MS. FENUMIAI advised that the statutes do not have a cure
provision for people who vote by mail.
4:45:00 PM
CHAIR SHOWER said his office was looking at that. He asked her
to respond to question 15 about how someone could vote twice by
mistake and how that could negate their vote.
MS. FENUMIAI explained that the division has a model to catch
double voting, regardless of the circumstance. It was re-
implemented with the 2020 elections by not counting any absentee
or question ballots until the in-person voter history was
completed. As the absentee and question ballots were logged, the
division was able to run duplicate voting reports to identify
voters who cast ballots more than once.
4:46:26 PM
CHAIR SHOWER noted that invited testimony last week reported
that a woman in District 14 had to vote a question ballot
because she was told when she appeared in person to vote that
she had already voted. He noted that the Division of Elections
determined that the daughter had voted in the mother's name,
even though the last names were not the same.
CHAIR SHOWER said he brought up the foregoing because his office
had heard that "there were things in statute" that needed to be
addressed to make things better.
4:47:22 PM
MS. FENUMIAI said she believes that [Jason] Rampton, [Vice Chair
of the District 14 Republican Party] brought that example
forward.
CHAIR SHOWER confirmed that Mr. Rampton related that to the
committee last week. He asked if she had any comment.
MS. FENUMIAI replied that the division determined that a voter
signed on Ms. Ditzler's line on the precinct register. When she
came to vote in person, she was informed that she had already
voted and she had to vote a question ballot, "which was then
reviewed and counted."
CHAIR SHOWER thanked her for the update.
4:48:20 PM
SENATOR KAWASAKI said his questions relate to the automatic
voter registration when someone applies for a permanent fund
dividend (PFD). He asked how it could happen that registering
for a PFD could change an individual's voting address and
prevent that person from voting in the subsequent election. He
noted that a committee member cited this example in an earlier
hearing.
MS. FENUMIAI advised that under the PFD automatic voter
registration (AVR) program, when individuals who are 18 years of
age and a U.S. citizen apply for a FPD, their information is
sent to the Division of Elections and is used to update the
voter's record. If the address on the PFD application is
different from the voter registration address and the individual
does not respond to a mailing from the division requesting
clarification, the individual's address is updated to the
address on the PFD application.
4:49:51 PM
SENATOR KAWASAKI summarized that the information on a person's
myPFD account is the default for a voter's address.
MS. FENUMIAI answered that is correct, but there is also an
option on the online PDF application for the voter to designate
the address they want to use for their voter registration. If
that box is left blank, the default is the residence address
provided on the PFD application.
SENATOR KAWASAKI referred to the PFD application he printed for
himself and pointed out that it includes the bolded instruction
for the applicant to enter their correct residence address to
ensure the applicant is assigned to the correct voting district.
This is followed by the caution that if the correct residence
address is left blank, the address entered earlier on the PFD
application would be used as the applicant's voter registration
address, which may change the applicant's voting district.
4:51:09 PM
SENATOR KAWASAKI described the written PFD application as quite
self-explanatory; the applicant was responsible for the change
in their voting district. He asked Ms. Fenumiai if she was able
to look back and determine why an individual's voting district
changed when they had not changed their residence.
MS. FENUMIAI confirmed that the division would be able to look
at the specific voter's residence address for voter registration
purposes and their voter history if the voter's name is
provided. She clarified that a voter is legally entitled to vote
a question ballot at any precinct in the state if their name is
not on the precinct register.
SENATOR KAWASAKI said he would forward the name.
CHAIR SHOWER asked Mr. Applebee to discuss the concern that
felons, noncitizens, and others who were not allowed to vote,
were being automatically registered.
4:53:34 PM
MR. APLEBEE recalled that this was discussed in a previous
iteration of the bill and the Lieutenant Governor's Office
worked on the current language with the sponsor's office. He
said the notion is to ensure that people who are eligible to
vote do not fall through the cracks and people who are not
eligible to vote are removed from the voting rolls.
CHAIR SHOWER asked if he had seen examples of people voting when
they should not be on the rolls, such as someone convicted of a
felony who had not been unconditionally discharged from
incarceration, probation and or parole. He asked him to
articulate the reason the Lieutenant Governor's Office would
like the PFD automatic voter registration to be changed to an
opt in as opposed to automatic.
MR. APLEBEE said he would follow up after he looked at his notes
from last year and the year before that to refresh his recall.
4:55:03 PM
SENATOR REINBOLD offered her view of the 2020 election and asked
if the statutory requirement for a witness signature on absentee
ballots helps improve election integrity.
MS. FENUMIAI replied the witness signature has been viewed as a
deterrent to voter fraud.
4:56:48 PM
CHAIR SHOWER asked for the number of people registered to vote
in Alaska and the number who are eligible to vote.
MS. FENUMIAI reported that 599,687 people were registered to
vote as of February 3, 2021. She did not have the number of
people eligible to vote because she did not have access to the
voting age population.
CHAIR SHOWER asked if she used the term catalyst or deterrent
when she answered Senator Reinbold's question. He added that he
thought she said deterrent.
MS. FENUMIAI confirmed that she used the term deterrent, adding
that the witness signature is used as a mechanism to prevent
fraud.
4:58:17 PM
SENATOR KAWASAKI mentioned the court case and asked if a witness
intent on fraud could fraudulently enter a signature on the
witness line.
MS. FENUMIAI deferred to Ms. Mills to discuss the court case.
MS. MILLS explained that the linchpin of the Department of Law's
argument was that the witness signature was an important tool
that the legislature put into statute to assist the division in
the absentee voter process. She acknowledged that fraud could
still occur despite that extra step.
SENATOR REINBOLD asked Ms. Fenumiai if she meant that the
witness signature is a mechanism to prevent voter fraud.
MS. FENUMIAI replied it is a deterrent; the state has determined
that the witness signature is important to assist in identifying
the person who cast the ballot.
5:01:24 PM
CHAIR SHOWER commented that the question about a potentially
fraudulent witness signature goes back to his point that the
chain of custody of ballots needs improvement.
CHAIR SHOWER held SB 39 in committee for future consideration.
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