04/15/2014 08:00 AM House COMMUNITY & REGIONAL AFFAIRS

                SB 213-MUNICIPAL ELECTION BOARDS                                                                            
                                                                                                                                
8:24:25 AM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
CO-CHAIR LEDOUX announced that the  final order of business would                                                               
be SENATE  BILL NO. 213, "An  Act relating to the  appointment of                                                               
municipal election boards."                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                
LARRY  SIMMONS,  Staff,  Senator  Peter  Micciche,  Alaska  State                                                               
Legislature,  said  SB  213   allows  municipalities  to  conduct                                                               
elections efficiently.   Currently, Alaska statute  requires that                                                               
an  election board  be  established for  every  election and  for                                                               
every precinct.   If an election  is conducted by other  than in-                                                               
person balloting, the municipality still  has to hire an election                                                               
board,  but  the  board does  not  have  a  job  to do  in  every                                                               
precinct, because people are not  voting in person, he explained.                                                               
"This bill simply allows, through  statute, for municipalities to                                                               
conduct  elections  efficiently  by means  other  than  in-person                                                               
balloting," he  said.  There  is a zero  fiscal note, and  it has                                                               
the support of the Alaska  Municipal Clerks Association, he said.                                                               
The Kenai Peninsula Borough requested this change, he added.                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
8:26:04 AM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE  KITO III  asked  if  Alaska allows  non-in-person                                                               
municipal elections.                                                                                                            
                                                                                                                                
MR.  SIMMONS  replied  yes,  Alaska   statute  allows  for  other                                                               
balloting, like mail-in ballots.                                                                                                
                                                                                                                                
8:26:37 AM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
CO-CHAIR LEDOUX noted  that the Lake and  Peninsula Borough holds                                                               
all municipal  elections by absentee  ballots.  Is it  true that,                                                               
currently,  that  borough has  to  have  an election  board  even                                                               
though the board would have nothing to do?                                                                                      
                                                                                                                                
MR.  SIMMONS  said  his  understanding   is  that  in  conducting                                                               
elections, there  must be  an election  board for  each precinct.                                                               
He  said he  does  not know  what  the make-up  of  the Lake  and                                                               
Peninsula  Borough's  election  precincts   look  like,  but  the                                                               
current statute  says that they  must have an election  board for                                                               
each  precinct,  and this  bill  would  allow a  municipality  to                                                               
choose to only have election  boards at, for example, an absentee                                                               
precinct, "so  that people  would be  able to  go to  an absentee                                                               
precinct and vote in person, and  the rest of the mail-in ballots                                                               
would not  require -  because they're not  voting in-person  - it                                                               
would not require an election board at each precinct."                                                                          
                                                                                                                                
8:28:09 AM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
CO-CHAIR LEDOUX inquired as to what an election board does.                                                                     
                                                                                                                                
MR. SIMMONS suggested that a clerk answer that question.                                                                        
                                                                                                                                
CO-CHAIR LEDOUX opened public testimony.                                                                                        
                                                                                                                                
8:28:46 AM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
JOHNI  BLANKENSHIP,  Clerk,  Kenai Peninsula  Borough,  said  "we                                                               
requested this bill" because [the  Kenai Peninsula Borough] would                                                               
like to  conduct elections  by mail, and  in reviewing  the state                                                               
statutes it  became clear  that even if  the borough  did conduct                                                               
its  elections by  mail, it  would  still have  to hire  election                                                               
judges to sit  at polling locations where there  was no balloting                                                               
actually taking  place.   She explained that  SB 213  would allow                                                               
municipalities to  conduct elections by  mail or other  means and                                                               
to only hire election boards where necessary.                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                
8:29:51 AM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
CO-CHAIR  LEDOUX asked  if  there are  election  judges at  every                                                               
polling place, in addition to the person checking in voters.                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
MS. BLANKENSHIP  said those people  are one  in the same.   Those                                                               
who  check  voters  in  are considered  the  election  board  and                                                               
judges, she explained.                                                                                                          
                                                                                                                                
8:30:37 AM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
CO-CHAIR LEDOUX  recalled that in  Kodiak there was  one precinct                                                               
where no one could vote-it was  a mail-in precinct.  "So election                                                               
judges  had  to be  hired  specifically  for that  precinct  even                                                               
though nobody was going to vote there?"                                                                                         
                                                                                                                                
MS. BLANKENSHIP  said the  current law is  written such  that the                                                               
municipality  "shall appoint  an  election board  composed of  at                                                               
least three  judges for each  precinct."   She said she  does not                                                               
know that that was done [in  Kodiak], but "we wanted to make sure                                                               
that the statutes  allowed us to conduct the elections  in such a                                                               
way that we  wouldn't have to hire people when  there was nothing                                                               
but by-mail balloting going on."                                                                                                
                                                                                                                                
8:31:52 AM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE HERRON asked  if the reason for  an election board                                                               
is because  identification cards  are not required  to vote  if a                                                               
judge knows the voter and can confirm his or her identity.                                                                      
                                                                                                                                
MS. BLANKENSHIP  answered yes, if  the voter is  personally known                                                               
to one of the three judges [no identification card is required].                                                                
                                                                                                                                
CO-CHAIR LEDOUX, upon determining no  one else wished to testify,                                                               
closed public testimony.                                                                                                        
                                                                                                                                
8:32:57 AM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE HERRON noted that he supports SB 213.                                                                            
                                                                                                                                
CO-CHAIR  NAGEAK moved  to report  SB 213  out of  committee with                                                               
individual  recommendations  and  the accompanying  fiscal  note.                                                               
There  being no  objection, SB  213 was  reported from  the House                                                               
Community and Regional Affairs Standing Committee.