00                       HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 43                                                                     
01 Affirming the Alaska State Legislature's commitment to voter privacy, election                                          
02 integrity, and the right to vote; expressing concern regarding disclosure of confidential                               
03 voter information to the United States Department of Justice; and urging action to                                      
04 protect voters in the state.                                                                                            
05 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                               
06       WHEREAS voters in the state have a reasonable expectation that confidential                                     
07 personal information will be protected by state law and used only for legitimate election                               
08 administration purposes; and                                                                                            
09       WHEREAS art. I, sec. 22, of the Constitution of the State of Alaska, enumerates the                             
10 right of privacy and affirms that "The right of the people to privacy is recognized and shall                           
11 not be infringed"; and                                                                                                  
12       WHEREAS art. I, sec. 4, of the United States Constitution, grants state legislatures                            
13 authority over the "times, places and manner" of federal elections, establishing state                                  
14 sovereignty over electoral processes; and                                                                               
15       WHEREAS AS 15.07.195 establishes that the following voter registration                                          
01 information is confidential under state law: date of birth, social security number or any part of                       
02 that number, driver's license number, voter identification number, place of birth, voter                                
03 signature, and residential address, if the voter elects to make the voter's residential address                         
04 confidential; and                                                                                                       
05 WHEREAS AS 15.07.195(c)(1) permits disclosure of confidential voter information                                       
06 to federal agencies only when the disclosure is in compliance with federal law and the                                  
07 receiving federal agency uses the information only for governmental purposes authorized                                 
08 under law; and                                                                                                          
09 WHEREAS, in July 2025, the United States Department of Justice sent the state a                                       
10 letter claiming the state had more registered active voters than citizens of voting age and                             
11 demanded the state's complete statewide voter registration list; and                                                    
12 WHEREAS the state initially responded by providing only the publicly available                                        
13 voter list; and                                                                                                         
14 WHEREAS, in August 2025, the United States Department of Justice demanded the                                         
15 state's complete and unredacted voter registration list, including confidential information, and                        
16 asserted that state privacy laws were "clearly preempted" by federal law; and                                           
17 WHEREAS, in December 2025, the state transmitted its complete voter registration                                      
18 list, including all confidential personal information, to the United States Department of Justice                       
19 under a memorandum of understanding; and                                                                                
20 WHEREAS the confidential personal information of approximately 570,000                                                
21 registered voters in the state has been transmitted to federal authorities and cannot be                                
22 retrieved; and                                                                                                          
23 WHEREAS, as of February 2026, three federal district courts in California, Oregon,                                    
24 and Michigan have substantively ruled on the legal authority of the United States Department                            
25 of Justice to demand unredacted state voter registration lists, and all three courts rejected the                       
26 United States Department of Justice's claims; and                                                                       
27 WHEREAS no federal court has ruled in favor of the United States Department of                                        
28 Justice's interpretation of federal law; and                                                                            
29 WHEREAS the state has no mechanism to monitor how the United States Department                                        
30 of Justice is using the state's voter data, no ability to limit the Department of Justice's use of                      
31 the data, and no means to retrieve the transmitted data; and                                                            
01 WHEREAS the Alaska State Legislature has received no assurance from federal                                           
02 authorities that state voter data will not be used for immigration enforcement, criminal                                
03 investigations, or other purposes unrelated to voter roll maintenance; and                                              
04 WHEREAS the state's unique geography, large Alaska Native population, significant                                     
05 military presence, population of senior citizens born before modern vital records systems, and                          
06 high proportion of residents who live in places that are not on the road system create specific                         
07 vulnerabilities to both misuse of personal information and documentation-based barriers to                              
08 voter registration; and                                                                                                 
09 WHEREAS the federal possession of state voters' confidential personal information                                     
10 creates heightened risk that could lead to residents of the state who are eligible to vote being                        
11 challenged, investigated, or deterred from voting; and                                                                  
12 WHEREAS election integrity requires both preventing unauthorized voting and                                           
13 protecting every eligible United States citizen's right to vote; and                                                    
14 WHEREAS the Constitution of the State of Alaska establishes the Alaska State                                          
15 Legislature's duty to protect the privacy rights of the state's residents and ensure the integrity                      
16 of the state's electoral processes; and                                                                                 
17 WHEREAS sovereignty over the state's election system is a core state function that                                    
18 should not be compromised by federal overreach;                                                                         
19 BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature affirms that the privacy of state                                    
20 voters' confidential personal information is a matter of state rights and that the state's voter                        
21 confidentiality statutes reflect a considered legislative judgment that personal data may not be                        
22 used for purposes beyond lawful election administration; and be it                                                      
23 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature expresses serious concern                                          
24 that state voter data transmitted to the United States Department of Justice may be used for                            
25 purposes beyond voter roll maintenance, including purposes that federal courts have found to                            
26 be outside congressional authorization, and that the state has no mechanism to monitor the use                          
27 of, limit the use of, or to retrieve the transmitted data; and be it                                                    
28 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the division of                                              
29 elections to immediately request, in writing, from the United States Department of Justice a                            
30 detailed accounting of                                                                                                  
31            (1)  how state voter data is being stored and for how long;                                                  
01            (2)  who has access to state voter data and whether any other federal agencies                               
02 have been granted access;                                                                                               
03            (3)  what state voter data has been used for and will be used for;                                           
04            (4)  whether state voter data has been or will be cross-referenced with                                      
05 nonelection databases;                                                                                                  
06            (5)  what safeguards are in place to prevent unauthorized access or misuse; and                              
07            (6)  when state voter data will be destroyed; and be it                                                      
08       FURTHER RESOLVED that, if the division of elections receives a response from                                    
09 the United States Department of Justice, the Alaska State Legislature urges the division of                             
10 elections to transmit the response to the presiding officer of each house of the Alaska State                           
11 Legislature within 30 days after receipt; and be it                                                                     
12 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature commits to monitoring the                                          
13 implementation of any federal voter registration requirements to ensure that no eligible                                
14 resident is disenfranchised by citizenship documentation barriers, with particular attention to                         
15 (1)  Alaska Native communities, where birth records may be incomplete or                                                
16 inaccessible;                                                                                                           
17 (2)  rural residents and residents living off the road system who face unique                                           
18 challenges obtaining documentary proof of United States citizenship;                                                    
19 (3)  Alaska Native elders and senior citizens born before modern vital records                                          
20 systems;                                                                                                                
21 (4)  active duty military personnel and families of active duty military                                                
22 personnel who may have been born outside the state;                                                                     
23            (5)  naturalized citizens who have established lives in the state; and                                       
24 (6)  any state resident whose voter registration status is challenged based on                                          
25 information contained in the voter data transmitted to federal authorities; and be it                                   
26 FURTHER RESOLVED that this resolution expresses the will of the Alaska State                                          
27 Legislature, and is intended to provide guidance to state agencies, federal authorities, and the                        
28 public regarding legislative priorities and intentions for protecting state voter privacy and                           
29 election integrity.                                                                                                     
30 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Pamela Bondi, Attorney                                       
31 General of the United States; the Honorable Harmeet K. Dhillon, Assistant Attorney General,                             
01 Civil Rights Division, United States Department of Justice; the Honorable Mike Dunleavy,                                
02 Governor of Alaska; the Honorable Nancy Dahlstrom, Lieutenant Governor of Alaska; the                                   
03 Honorable Stephen J. Cox, Attorney General of Alaska Designee; Carol Beecher, Director of                               
04 Elections, division of elections; and the Honorable Lisa Murkowski and the Honorable Dan                                
05 Sullivan, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Nicholas Begich, U.S. Representative, members of                             
06 the Alaska delegation in Congress.