Legislature(2021 - 2022)BUTROVICH 205
02/25/2021 03:30 PM Senate STATE AFFAIRS
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| SB25 | |
| SB39 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| += | SB 25 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | SB 39 | TELECONFERENCED | |
SB 39-BALLOT CUSTODY/TAMPERING; VOTER REG; MAIL
4:27:34 PM
CHAIR SHOWER 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 asked the invited testifiers to talk about what they saw
during the previous election cycle.
4:28:47 PM
ELLYN ZETERA, representing self, Copper Center, Alaska, reported
that she received two ballots in the mail in the second or third
week of October 2020. She threw the first one away in
aggravation because she intended to vote in person. A second
ballot arrived a week later and she threw it away as well. She
related that she believed that all Alaskans were receiving
ballots by mail because of the "hard push for the ballots being
mailed in." Sometime in the second week of December, she
received an apology letter from the lieutenant governor stating
that there "was an incident involving exposure of personally
identifiable information." She said she was given a one-year
subscription to Equifax Credit Watch Gold. Despite the exposure,
she said she was assured that the election was legitimate and
her vote was not affected.
MS. ZETERA stated that she questions the entire election because
she received two ballots by mail and then her identity was
stolen.
4:31:11 PM
CHAIR SHOWER asked if she understands the difference between a
ballot application and a ballot because the Division of
Elections has said, "in most cases if not all, those were not
ballots; they were applications." He asked her to state for the
record that she understands the difference between ballots and
applications.
MS. ZETERA replied, "They were ballots due to the fact when I
opened them, there was nowhere for me to sign or sign up for it.
I received ballots that had the circles to fill out as well as
the names of individuals I was able to vote for."
CHAIR SHOWER asked her to confirm that she did not request the
ballots.
MS. ZETERA replied, "No, I did not request them."
CHAIR SHOWER asked if she voted in person.
MS. ZETERA answered yes.
CHAIR SHOWER restated, "You got ballots you did not request and
you also received a letter from the state saying your data was
compromised. Is that all true?"
MS. ZETERA answered yes.
CHAIR SHOWER found no questions and recognized the next invited
testifier.
4:32:57 PM
ARNIE OYDNA, representing self, Juneau, Alaska, stated that he
also received an unsolicited ballot. He added, "I know the
difference between application and a ballot. This was a ballot."
4:33:48 PM
KENNY SKAFLESTAD representing self, Hoonah, Alaska, related his
experience of encountering someone on the street in Hoonah who
was carrying a briefcase with printed ballots and offering to
help people complete their ballots. The next day he received
three phone calls from neighbors who had people carrying ballots
come to their doors. He said the experience was upsetting for
some of these people.
CHAIR SHOWER asked if he reported this to the Division of
Elections or law enforcement.
MR. SKAFLESTAD said no.
CHAIR SHOWER asked if he would be willing to contact his office
after the meeting to discuss forwarding the information to law
enforcement.
MR. SKAFLESTAD agreed to do so.
4:36:45 PM
BRIAN ENDLE, representing self, Palmer, Alaska, stated that he
has dealt with election integrity over the last year. He
provided his credentials and described himself as a computer
programmer. He related that the election integrity group he
works with made a presentation to the governor and another to
the lieutenant governor. The latter presentation is on the
Alaska Republican Assembly website alaskara.com and it made the
point that "It is impossible to guarantee the validity or
integrity of an election with electronic voting machines. The
only way to ensure a valid election is with paper ballots and
with hand counting election results upon request from either
party." He said he demonstrated with YouTube videos that
electronic voting machines can be manipulated. "We showed the
actual voting machine that's used in the Mat-Su Valley being
hacked," he said.
He offered the following suggestions: use paper ballots, get rid
of electronic voting machines, reregister every year, require
voter ID, have strict rules for absentee voting, require showing
ID in person, no mail-in ballots, no ballot harvesting, forensic
audit of 2020 voting machines, comprehensive audit of 2020
Alaska votes - particularly absentee ballots, and ballot
counting at the precinct level. He noted that he sent the chair
a complete version of his suggestions.
CHAIR SHOWER advised that the bill was not focused on the voting
machines.
4:40:34 PM
TERRI LYONS, representing self, Wasilla, Alaska, stated that she
and her deceased husband received ballots for the primary and
general election. She threw the ballots away and voted in
person. She related that she followed the chair's suggestion to
go to the elections office to find out whether her vote counted,
but the Wasilla office was closed due to COVID-19. She tried to
call the Anchorage office multiple times but was unable to speak
to anyone. She does not know if either she or her deceased
husband were shown as having voted. "I think this voting fraud
is out of hand and we need to get a handle on it and get it
stopped."
CHAIR SHOWER asked for confirmation that she received ballots
that she did not request and she understands the difference
between a ballot and an application.
MS. LYONS answered that is true.
CHAIR SHOWER asked if she received a letter from the state
saying her data was compromised.
MS. LYONS replied she did not get a letter.
4:42:38 PM
VIOLA AMBERG, representing self, Copper Center, Alaska, related
her experience taking her elderly, wheelchair bound father to
the local library to vote. Because he was unable to go into the
building, she took his ID inside and asked if an election worker
could go to the car and witness his vote. An election worker
said that her father did not need to have his vote witnessed and
it was not necessary to show his ID. She took a ballot out to
the car and helped her father fill it out but questioned how it
could be legal. "There was just no quality control at all," she
said.
4:45:03 PM
SUSI SEIBERT, representing self, Trapper Creek, Alaska, reported
that she received two ballot applications about a week apart and
burned both. About two weeks after that she received two ballots
in the mail and she burned those as well. She early voted and
then went on holiday for about six weeks. When she returned, she
had a letter "stating that my vote might have been breached or
compromised." She tried to look online to see whether her vote
counted, but she was unsuccessful navigating the system. "So I
don't know if my vote counted or not."
4:46:54 PM
CHAIR SHOWER asked if it was true that she received both
applications and ballots that she did not request.
MS. SEIBERT replied, "I am 100 percent positive I received
ballots after I threw away applications."
CHAIR SHOWER asked if it was true that she received a letter
from the state advising that her data had been compromised.
MS. SEIBERT answered yes.
4:47:37 PM
SENATOR HOLLAND restated that Ms. Seibert received two ballot
applications followed by two ballots. He asked if that was
correct.
MS. SEIBERT replied, "That is correct."
4:47:53 PM
BARBARA HANEY, representing self, North Pole, Alaska, stated
that she works for a legislator but was calling on her own
behalf. She related that she frequently consults the voter
database because she fields questions from people in several
districts. When people come in with questions she looks up the
person's district and lets their representative know that their
constituent has a certain problem.
MS. HANEY assured the committee that the voter database has some
problems. She sent about 5,000 letters to new voters since the
prior election and about 15 percent were returned as "addressee
unknown." She said the database also has quite a number of
voters who have passed, who no longer vote, and some who are not
citizens. She opined that until the database is cleaned up,
anybody remotely interested in integrity would support SB 39.
CHAIR SHOWER said everyone should be concerned about getting the
election system as tight as possible. It is difficult to believe
that anybody could say nothing needs to be done.
MS. HANEY added that her late husband was an immigrant and he
received volumes of mail from the Voter Information Center. She
later learned that anybody with the political affiliation U or N
was targeted.
CHAIR SHOWER said he does not know who committed the data breach
or how the information was used.
MS. HANEY thanked the chair for his work on the legislation and
said she had a few ideas about how to clean up the voter rolls.
CHAIR SHOWER welcomed her ideas.
4:58:10 PM
CHAIR SHOWER held SB 39 in committee.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| SB 25 Amendment 1.pdf |
SSTA 2/25/2021 3:30:00 PM |
SB 25 |
| SB 25 Amendment 2.pdf |
SSTA 2/25/2021 3:30:00 PM |
SB 25 |
| SB 25 Amendment 3.pdf |
SSTA 2/25/2021 3:30:00 PM |
SB 25 |
| SB 25 Amendment 4.pdf |
SSTA 2/25/2021 3:30:00 PM |
SB 25 |
| SB 25 Amendment 5.pdf |
SSTA 2/25/2021 3:30:00 PM |
SB 25 |
| SB 25 CS.pdf |
SSTA 2/25/2021 3:30:00 PM |
SB 25 |
| SB 25 Explanation of Changes.pdf |
SSTA 2/25/2021 3:30:00 PM |
SB 25 |
| SB 25.pdf |
SSTA 2/25/2021 3:30:00 PM |
SB 25 |