Legislature(2013 - 2014)CAPITOL 120
04/05/2013 01:00 PM House JUDICIARY
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| HJR10 | |
| HB173 | |
| HJR10 | |
| HB104 | |
| HB3 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| += | HB 3 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | HB 104 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| += | HB 173 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | HJR 10 | TELECONFERENCED | |
HB 3 - PHOTO IDENTIFICATION VOTING REQUIREMENT
1:58:03 PM
VICE CHAIR LYNN announced that the final order of business would
be HOUSE BILL NO. 3, "An Act relating to voter identification at
the polls; and relating to the counting of absentee and
questioned ballots."
VICE CHAIR LYNN turned the gavel over to Representative Pruitt.
REPRESENTATIVE LYNN, as a joint prime sponsor, assured the
committee that nothing in HB 3 would prevent a person who is
registered to vote and who is motivated to vote, from voting.
Under HB 3, people voting in person would be required to present
one form of photographic ("photo") identification (ID), or two
forms of [non-photo ID,] in order to vote. The bill also
provides an exemption for voters who can instead have their
identity verified by two election officials who know them, and,
if unable to comply with HB 3's identification requirements, or
qualify for the exemption it provides, voters may instead cast
provisional or questioned ballots. He offered his belief that
none of HB 3's requirements would be too onerous.
2:00:50 PM
FORREST WOLFE, Staff, Representative Bob Lynn, Alaska State
Legislature, on behalf of Representative Lynn, one of HB 3's
joint prime sponsors, in addition to reiterating Representative
Lynn's explanation of HB 3, characterized the bill as a
proactive measure intended to secure Alaska's elections while
respecting Alaska's unique voting population, noted that close
elections are common in Alaska, and opined, therefore, that even
one case of voter fraud is one case too many. He provided some
examples of the types of photo ID and non-photo ID that would be
acceptable under the bill's proposed AS 15.15.225(a); pointed
out that its proposed AS 15.15.225(a)(2)(D) reads in part, "a
valid identification card, license, or permit issued by any
branch, department, agency, or entity of the United States
government or the state"; and offered his belief that voters who
receive a permanent fund dividend (PFD), public assistance, or
services from the federal Indian Health Service (IHS) would all
be able to comply with the requirements of the bill. He, too,
noted that the bill provides an exemption for a voter who can
instead have his/her identity verified by two election
officials, and offered his understanding that most voters in the
Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta (Y-K Delta) already use the existing
exemption under current law wherein a voter's identity need only
be verified by one election official.
MR. WOLF explained that in addition to requiring two election
officials to verify the identity of any voter using the
exemption, under the bill's proposed AS 15.15.225(b), those two
election officials must sign the voter registration list next to
the voter's name. The election officials could then be held
responsible for any situations in which a fraudulent vote is
cast. He, too, also noted that if a voter is unable to comply
with HB 3's identification requirements, or qualify for the
exemption it provides, he/she may instead cast a provisional or
questioned ballot, which, he opined, are easy to fill out and
count just as much as any other ballot. A copy of the form
titled, "Questioned Ballot Oath & Affidavit Envelope" is
included in members' packets. In conclusion, he said HB 3 seeks
to do nothing more than make Alaska's elections more secure, and
indicated that the sponsor feels that the bill would do just
that without disenfranchising any voters. In response to a
question, he shared his understanding of what's required, in
terms of providing acceptable identification information, of
someone casting a questioned ballot.
2:05:25 PM
GAIL FENUMIAI, Director, Central Office, Division of Elections,
Office of the Lieutenant Governor, added that for questioned
ballots, the identification information provided on the envelope
by voters who have previously registered to vote is compared to
the identification information already listed in the voter
registration system for those voters. In response to comments
and further questions, she acknowledged that in some voting
precincts, finding enough election officials to even keep a
polling place open continues to be difficult; that in polling
places wherein only one election official is present, voters who
are unable to provide either one form of photo ID or two forms
of non-photo ID would have to cast a questioned ballot; and that
depending on the particular voting precinct, a lack of enough
election officials could also impact voters who vote absentee in
person, which is what voters are required to do when there are
too few election officials available in a particular voting
precinct. She offered her understanding that HB 3's proposed
changes would apply to all voters except those who vote absentee
by mail.
REPRESENTATIVE FOSTER expressed concern that the division's
ongoing difficulty in finding enough election officials could
result in problems for some voters in rural Alaska because of
the bill's proposed requirement that two election officials
verify the identity of voters unable to present either one form
of photo ID or two forms of non-photo ID, particularly given
that some such voters don't have any of the identification
documents listed under the bill or any way of obtaining them in
a timely fashion - if at all. And given that close elections
are common in Alaska, it would not be a good thing for a voter
in rural Alaska to have difficulties voting as a result of the
bill's requirements; any such difficulties, regardless that they
might at some point be overcome, could have a chilling effect on
voters in rural Alaska. For voters in rural Alaska, the
identification requirements under current law are sufficient to
prevent instances of voter fraud in Alaska.
MR. WOLFE shared his belief that HB 3's proposed identification
requirements would not present difficulties for voters in rural
Alaska, because of the exemption provided for those who can
instead have their identity verified by two election officials.
Referring to existing law's provision stipulating that a copy of
a current utility bill would suffice for identification
purposes, he offered a hypothetical example of a situation in
which voter fraud could be perpetrated under that existing
provision. The bill's proposed changes are intended to address
such situations, and so as long as the identification provided
by the voter is an official document issued by a branch of
government, it would be acceptable under the bill. He also
offered his belief that HB 3 - via its stipulation that two
election officials must verify the identity of a voter who
cannot provide either one form of photo ID or two forms of non-
photo ID - would address instances of voter fraud perpetrated by
election officials, such as has occurred in [another state]; and
reiterated his understanding that under the bill, election
officials could be held responsible for any instances of voter
fraud perpetrated by a voter whose identity they verified.
2:28:40 PM
WILLIAM MARTIN, Grand President, Alaska Native Brotherhood
(ANB), explained that the ANB feels that HB 3 would not be good
for Alaska Natives because it could preclude a lot of them from
exercising their right to vote. Many of a certain age don't
have "ID cards." Such cards aren't required for purposes of
receiving healthcare at a SouthEast Alaska Regional Health
Consortium (SEARHC) [clinic], or voting in a tribal election.
Furthermore, tribal ID cards don't have photographs, and people
in the villages all know each other. In conclusion, he asked
the committee to not let HB 3 pass, because it would hinder
people's ability to vote, and putting in place a bill that would
keep people from exercising their right to vote would simply be
wrong.
REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG agreed, adding that he doesn't want to
see anyone lose his/her right to vote.
MR. MARTIN, in response to comments, pointed out that in every
election he has voted in, not even one of the five or six
election officials working at his polling place knew who he was,
and thus it's not necessarily true that a voter lacking either
one form of photo ID or two forms of non-photo ID could simply
have election officials verify his/her identity.
2:32:40 PM
MARY GRAHAM, noting that she now serves as an election official,
said she is not in favor of HB 3, and doesn't think that
Alaska's current election procedures create problems. She added
that she is a little worried about assertions that as an
election official, she would collude with someone to commit
voter fraud. With regard to the claim that a voter who is
unable to comply with HB 3's identification requirements or
qualify for the exemption it provides could instead simply cast
a [provisional or] questioned ballot, she offered the analogy of
being sent to the principal's office simply for forgetting one's
pencil. Casting a questioned ballot is not like casting a
regular ballot - casting a questioned ballot requires more steps
of both the voter and election officials, and thus the bill is
essentially singling out such voters. Offering an example
wherein she, as just one election official, was able to verify
the identity of a voter who'd come to vote during a lunch break
from work but couldn't find her photo ID, Ms. Graham said she
doesn't think it's necessary to require two election officials
to verify the identity of a voter, and thinks that the current
system works very well as is, and that the concept behind the
bill is being proposed by outside interests.
2:34:57 PM
FREDA WESTMAN, Grand President, Alaska Native Sisterhood (ANS),
referring to the right to vote as one of the greatest equalizers
in America, predicted that HB 3 would surely disenfranchise
Alaska's Native voters, regardless of assurances that that's not
the bill's intention, because there are those who simply won't
vote a questioned ballot. Having to vote a questioned ballot
puts one in a different class of citizens. Many Alaska Natives
live in rural Alaska and therefore simply don't have access to
photo IDs, and the bill's proposed changes would require that
such persons cast a questioned ballot, thereby placing them in a
different class of voters. Nobody wants to cast a questioned
ballot. Pointing out that she votes in every election and
always uses her voter registration card, she questioned why she
should need anything else to prove her identity. In conclusion,
she shared her hope that the committee would vote "Do Not Pass"
on HB 3, and again predicted that HB 3 would surely
disenfranchise the people she represents.
MS. WESTMAN, in response to comments and questions, relayed that
although she's applied for an identification card through her
local tribal office, the bill itself doesn't clarify what
constitutes a tribe, even though what does constitute a tribe
isn't clear to a lot of people; for example, she's heard people
refer to Alaska Native corporations as tribes. Furthermore,
obtaining a tribal ID card is going to be cumbersome for people
who move away from their [home] village. More to the point,
though, why should Alaska Natives be required to present a
tribal ID card in order to vote? Alaska Natives are citizens of
Alaska, and as such should not have to present a tribal ID card
- signifying simply that one is a member of the tribe - just to
vote; no one who is Caucasian would want to have to present a
card stating that they are Caucasian in order to vote.
2:41:46 PM
BETH McEWEN, Member, Alaska Association of Municipal Clerks
(AAMC), noted that members' packets contain a resolution passed
by the AAMC opposing HB 3 - Resolution No. 2013-01 - and
indicated that the AAMC has a number of concerns with the bill,
many of which have already been addressed by previous speakers.
She requested that if HB 3 is passed regardless, that it first
be amended such that only one election official would be
required to verify a voter's identity, because it's evident from
previous testimony that that is sufficient to ensure that voters
are who they say they are. Furthermore, people with certain
disabilities, because they aren't necessarily going to have a
driver's license or any of the other listed forms of photo ID,
could be required to cast a questioned ballot under HB 3 as
currently written. Her niece, for example, has Down syndrome
and uses her city bus pass for ID. The bill, she suggested,
should therefore also be amended to allow photo ID issued by a
municipality - such as a city bus pass - to be used for
identification purposes when voting. In conclusion, she
reiterated that the AAMC has passed Resolution No. 2013-01
opposing HB 3.
MS. McEWEN, in response to comments and questions, concurred
that nobody likes to vote a questioned ballot because of public
perception, and relayed that she has heard many voters say that
if they were required to vote a provisional or questioned
ballot, they would instead simply not vote.
2:47:08 PM
JAN TRIGG, President, Camp 70 Glacier Valley, Alaska Native
Sisterhood (ANS), urged the committee to vote "Do Not Pass" on
HB 3. She offered her belief that HB 3 would discriminate
against rural Alaskans, and would create an impediment to the
most basic of democratic practices. The homeless, the
homebound, returning veterans, the elderly, people of color, and
college students would all be vulnerable. Citizens in rural
Alaska are primarily Alaska Native, and HB 3 would unfairly
impact many rural Alaskans, who live in places where obtaining
photo ID may not be possible. Alaska does not have a problem
with voter fraud - Alaska's current laws are sufficient to
prevent it. There should not be more stringent requirements to
vote than there are to register to vote. It's wrong to pass
laws that would block some Alaskans from voting, that would deny
them the opportunity to participate equally in the democracy.
In conclusion, she again urged the committee to vote "Do Not
Pass" on HB 3.
2:49:35 PM
TRAVIS LEWIS, Vice President, Alaskans for Alaska, relayed that
his organization is "absolutely for" HB 3. He offered his
belief that voter fraud is occurring in Alaska, and cited some
statistics to illustrate. For example, at the time of the 2010
election, 20 year-around residents lived in Elfin Cove according
to the census, but there were 68 people registered to vote.
Numbers such as these result when non-residents - for example,
tourism-based-business owners and their seasonal employees -
come up to Alaska for the season and register to vote [based on
having a mailing address in Alaska]. Acknowledging that
obtaining identification documents could be difficult for some
Alaskans depending on where they live, he said it's hard for him
to understand nonetheless how anyone in this day and age could
be without what he termed, "proper identification," given how
often it's now required for a variety of purposes. Voting is a
sacred right that many have fought very hard for, but voter
fraud is currently being committed in Southeast Alaska by
residents of other states who just come to Alaska to work for
the season. Requiring photo ID in order to vote would be
helpful in terms of enforcing Alaska's election laws because it
would then be clear from such ID which state a person really
resides in. Mr. Lewis said he is in full support of HB 3,
adding that he would also like to see Alaska's voter-
registration laws amended such that claims of intending to
return to Alaska would no longer be sufficient to
[establish/maintain] residency for purposes of voting in Alaska
elections.
MS. FENUMIAI, in response to comments and questions, relayed
that the current number of people of voting age in Alaska is
522,853, and the current number of people registered to vote in
Alaska is 486,498.
2:59:31 PM
JOSHUA DECKER, Staff Attorney, American Civil Liberties Union of
Alaska (ACLU of Alaska), mentioning that the ACLU of Alaska has
submitted written testimony on HB 3, stated that there are
significant constitutional concerns with the bill.
Specifically, HB 3 would violate Alaskans' constitutionally-
protected right to vote, unconstitutionally burdening voters,
particularly those who live in rural Alaska and who don't have
photo ID, which is not currently required under existing law.
As outlined in the aforementioned written testimony, HB 3 is
fatally similar to a Texas law recently invalidated by the
courts. Furthermore, because the State of Alaska doesn't
provide people with free photo ID and the bill makes no
provision for such, requiring people to present photo ID in
order to vote means that they would have to pay for those IDs
themselves, in effect resulting in them paying what he called
"an unconstitutional poll tax."
MR. DECKER said HB 3 also strangely strikes away at the best
indicia of identification, that being personal knowledge, by no
longer allowing just one election official who personally knows
the identity of a voter to waive the identifying-documentation
requirement. Voter fraud, although a serious issue, is not a
problem in Alaska; according to a letter from the Division of
Elections dated January 17, 2013, there has been only one case
[wherein a person voted under a fraudulent name, but the
underlying issue in that case was actually one of identity
theft, and the bill would not have prevented that person from
fraudulently voting because he had photo ID, albeit fraudulent].
In conclusion, he urged the committee to not pass HB 3.
3:02:23 PM
NATASHA SINGH, General Counsel, Tanana Chiefs Conference (TCC),
mentioning that she is also a Stevens Village tribal court
judge, explained that voting in rural Alaska is different than
voting in urban areas of the state, and is especially different
in the small villages that make up Interior Alaska. If passed,
HB 3 has the potential to be detrimental to rural Alaskans'
ability to vote. Placing more restrictions on Alaskans will not
increase voting, and the justifications used in the Lower 48,
asserting that increasing restrictions on voting would prevent
voter fraud, do not apply in Alaska. Again, there has been only
one documented case of voter fraud in Alaska, and thus there is
no reasonable justification for adopting HB 3. At the [latest
election], voter turnout for the state as a whole was about 59
percent, and voter turnout in Anchorage's District 23, for
example, was about 64.6 percent, but voter turnout in rural
District 37, for example, was only about 46 percent. The
legislature should be very concerned with the extremely low
voter turnout by Alaska Natives in rural Alaska, and therefore
be taking steps to increase voter turnout, not decrease it.
MS. SINGH predicted that HB 3's proposed changes would likely
decrease voter turnout in rural Alaska. First, not all village
residents have ID, and while it may be very hard for those
who've never lived in a village to understand, an ID isn't
really necessary in a village - there are no banks, for example,
and everyone already knows each other. It is certainly not a
lack of motivation to vote that would cause a rural resident to
forego traveling to an urban hub just to obtain a photo ID, but
rather the fact that such travel is so expensive; for example,
it could be over $500 for a flight to Anchorage, and that's a
lot of money. Furthermore, even when a village resident does
have an ID, he/she doesn't normally carry it around in the
village, even on Election Day. Requiring two election
officials, rather than allowing just one, to waive the bill's
identifying-documentation requirement would further hinder
Alaska Natives' right to vote. For example, although most of
the villages [served by the TCC] regularly have two or more
election officials, if an event occurs that impacts an entire
village - such as a funeral - then having an adequate number of
election officials available to address waivers under the bill
is going to be problematic when the entire village goes to the
funeral; in a recent poll of just four villages, three of them
stated that requiring two election officials to verify identity
would be a burden in such situations.
3:06:18 PM
MS. SINGH said the TCC strongly believes that the right to vote
is a fundamental right of Americans and the most necessary
factor of democracy, and agree that the integrity of the voting
process needs to be protected. But it's a fallacy to believe
that citizens are discouraged from voting simply because voter
fraud exists; if Alaskans aren't voting it may simply be because
they are discouraged by the fact that their elected
representatives are actually representing outside interests
instead. For further insight, the committee should rely
strongly on the views of the Bush caucus, which represents
Alaska's rural residents and understands the reasoning behind
the TCC and other Native corporations' opposition to HB 3. And
if [the committee] fails to consider the views of the Bush
caucus, then it should at least consider the legal opinion from
Legislative Legal and Research Services regarding HB 3.
REPRESENTATIVE PRUITT, in response to comments offered earlier
by Mr. Lewis, paraphrased some information provided from page 5
of a Division of Election's report titled, "State of Alaska,
HAVA State Plan, 2010 Updated"; that information, a copy of
which was included in an e-mail in members' packets, read
[original punctuation provided]:
Alaska has over 488,000 registered voters. According
to the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce
Development, the estimated voting age population in
2005 was 454,226. Alaska attributes its inflated
registration rolls to the fact that Alaska Statute
Title 15 allows a person who is temporarily out of
state to remain registered in Alaska if that person
has the "intent" to return (military and military
spouses are exempt from intent requirements). Because
of Alaska's Permanent Fund Dividend program benefits
and no state income tax, many Alaskans choose to
maintain their Alaska residency even if they currently
live outside the state.
[HB 3 was held over.]
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| HB 173 Letter of Support-AK Family Medical Care.pdf |
HJUD 4/5/2013 1:00:00 PM |
HB 173 |
| CSHB 104 (JUD) Amendment R.4.pdf |
HJUD 4/5/2013 1:00:00 PM |
HB 104 |