HB 43-ELECTIONS, VOTING, BALLOTS  5:10:04 PM CHAIR CARRICK announced that the final order of business would be HOUSE BILL NO. 43, "An Act relating to elections; relating to voters; relating to the crime of unlawful interference with voting; and providing for an effective date." 5:10:46 PM REPRESENTATIVE STORY moved to adopt the proposed committee (CS) for HB 43, Version 34-LS0231\I, Dunmire, 3/10/25, as a working document. 5:11:03 PM REPRESENTATIVE VANCE objected. REPRESENTATIVE VANCE said that HB 43 is essentially the Senate Rules Standing Committee's election bill and she worked extensively with that committee to produce an election bill with which everyone can agree. She said the topic of election reform has been worked on for six years with no agreement reached. She indicated that the proposed committee substitute was supposed to reflect the agreements that were made but does not. She stated that Alaska needs common sense election reform. She talked about cleaning up the voter rolls and noted that issue is not addressed under the proposed CS. She allowed that there are "a lot of good ideas" but expressed grave concern that "the good ideas don't have security measures in place," which can result in error. She said she would have numerous amendments to reach compromise. 5:13:32 PM A roll call vote was taken. Representatives Holland, Himschoot, Story, and Carrick voted in favor of the motion to adopt the proposed CS for HB 43, Version 34-LS0231\I, Dunmire, 3/10/25, as a working document. Representatives Vance and McCabe voted against it. Therefore, Version I was before the committee by a vote of 4-[2]. 5:14:25 PM CHAIR CARRICK expressed appreciation of Representative Vance's remarks. She explained that HB 43, Version I, is a product of combining aspects of the governor's bill on elections, the Senate version, and the original version of HB 43. She said she looks forward to a robust amendment process. 5:16:14 PM STUART RELAY, Staff, Representative Ashley Carrick, Alaska State Legislature, presented the summary of changes for the proposed committee substitute for HB 43, Version I [included in the committee file], which read as follows [original punctuation provided]: Page 1 line 1, Updates title to reflect additions to the bill Section 1, unchanged. Section 2, new section. Clarifies the residency requirements to define a residence as a place where a voter has a reasonable and articulable plan to return to whenever they are absent and provides that the presumption that a voter's registered address is correct may be rebutted by evidence that the voter has established residency at a different location. Section 3, replaces language in former section 2 with the following language. Adds two subsections related to voter registration. • Subsection (g) allows voters to designate a language to receive election materials in from the languages that the Division of Elections (Division) is required to provide language assistance in. • Subsection (h) requires voters registering within 30 days of the election to confirm that they have resided in their house district since at least 30 days before the election. Section 4, new section. Clarifies that electronic signatures are valid of the voter or a person acting with power of attorney on behalf of the voter. Section 5, formerly Section 3. Section 6, formerly Section 4. Section 7, formerly Section 5. Section 8, formerly Section 6. Section 9, formerly Section 7. Section 10, formerly Section 8. Section 11, new section. Requires the Division to send a single forwardable notice as part of voter list maintenance and adds additional categories of voters to receive notices. Section 12, formerly Section 9. Section 13, new section. Requires the director to develop a process for voters to cancel their registrations and require that instructions for how to cancel one's registration be prominently posted at polling places. (Sect 15 SB 64 Ver I) Section 14, new section. Requires the division to employ 5 rural community liaisons and have one assigned to each of the elections regions. The liaisons shall collaborate with tribes, municipalities, community organizations and other key stakeholders to facilitate access to early and absentee voting in rural areas and ensure that rural precincts are fully staffed. Section 15, new section. Repeals requirement that the Alaska Public Offices Commission have offices in each senate district. Section 16 and 17, new sections. Removes size and number requirements for voting booths. Section 18, new section. Requires that notices be posted informing voters of language assistance available at precincts where it is required by federal law. Section 19, new section. Codifies the procedure for when a person who requested an absentee ballot attempts to vote in person. Section 20, makes changes to section 10. Clarifies that the division must include results for all rank levels on the precinct results, including unofficial results. Section 21, new section. Enacts a new subsection related to unofficial results and ballot review data. • Subsection (b) requires the Division to release data for which ballots have been counted along with unofficial results. Section 22, new section. Relates to pay for election board members. The director may increase pay for election workers but pay decreases must be done by regulation. Section 23, new section. Allows candidates and ballot proposition campaigns to observe the State Review Board process. Section 24, new section. Allows the Division to adopt additional risk limiting audit procedures as part of the State Review Board process. Section 25, formerly section 11. Section 26, formerly section 12. Section 27, formerly section 13. Section 28, formerly section 14. Changes the period that a qualified voter may apply in person for an absentee ballot from 30 days in Ver N to 20 days. Section 29, formerly section 15. Changes the early voting period from 30 days in Ver N to 20 days. Section 30, formerly section 16. Section 31, formerly section 17. Section 32, new section. Provides that special needs ballots may not be rejected because of errors made by poll workers or representatives. Section 33, formerly section 18. Section 34, new section. States that a ballot received after the day of the election that is not postmarked or postmarked after the election may be counted if it is marked with a United States Postal Service tracking barcode that indicates it was mailed on or before the day of the election. Section 35, new section. Adds subsection (m) to allow voters to request by-mail ballots in any language for which the division is required to provide language assistance by federal law. Section 36, formerly section 19. Section 37, new section. Requires the division to begin counting absentee ballots at least seven days before the election and to release the first tabulated results when polls close at 8pm on Election Day. Section 38, formerly section 20. Section 39, formerly section 21. Section 40, formerly section 22. Section 41, new section. Requires that the director provide secure ballot drop boxes at every DOE office and every community with 20,000 residents. Section 42. formerly section 23. Section 43, formerly section 24. Section 44, new section. Requires the director to develop a cybersecurity program to defend the voter registration records kept by the division. Section 45, new section. Codifies the settlement in ACLU of Alaska v. State of Alaska related to campaign signs along state highways. Section 46, new section. Conforming language for section 15 relating to the repeal of the requirement for APOC of have offices in each Senate District. Section 47, formerly section 25. Section 48, formerly section 26. Section 49, new section. Removes a requirement that certain municipal candidates file their public official financial disclosure twice. Section 50, formerly section 27. Section 51, formerly section 28. Section 52, formerly section 29. 5:22:11 PM CHAIR CARRICK announced that HB 43, Version I, was held over.