HB 129-VOTER REGISTRATION  2:16:16 PM CHAIR VANCE announced that the final order of business would be HOUSE BILL NO. 129, "An Act relating to voter registration; and providing for an effective date." [Before the committee was CSHB 129(STA).] 2:16:44 PM JAKE ALMEIDA, Staff, Representative Sarah Vance, Alaska State Legislature, on behalf of the House Judiciary Standing Committee, sponsor by request, referred to a document illustrating the two-form process that was part of the list maintenance process. He asked Ms. Beecher to expound on the two mailers that were sent out to voters who had failed to vote in the last two general elections. 2:17:45 PM CAROL BEECHER, Director, Division of Elections (DOE), Office of the Lieutenant Governor, described the two mailers. 2:18:38 PM REPRESENTATIVE GRAY asked how many of each mailer, identified as C17A and C17B, were sent out each year. MS. BEECHER did not know the answer. She offered to follow up with the requested information. 2:19:17 PM REPRESENTATIVE GROH sought clarification on the procedure that triggered the mailers. MS. BEECHER explained that after reviewing the voter registration list each year, the first nonforwardable mailer was sent out to individuals requesting address confirmation or correction. The division would then send the second forwardable notice to voters whose mail had been returned, or who failed to vote or contact the division in the past two years. The second notice informed voters that their registration would be inactivated within 45 days if no response was received. 2:20:56 PM REPRESENTATIVE GROH sought to confirm that the mailers were only sent out to people that had not met the "screening criteria." In other words, a person who voted in every election would not receive them. MS. BEECHER confirmed that Representative Groh was correct. 2:21:19 PM REPRESENTATIVE EASTMAN asked whether any additional cost was associated with including "forwarding service requested," as opposed to "return service requested" on the mailer. MS. BEECHER offered to follow up with the requested information. 2:21:47 PM REPRESENTATIVE GRAY sought to confirm that should the bill pass, the mailer identified as C17A would no longer be used. MR. ALMEIDA confirmed that Representative Gray was correct. REPRESENTATIVE GRAY asked whether changing to a one-step process would be a cost-saving measure. MS. BEECHER answered yes. She anticipated that the division would save money by sending one notice, as opposed to two. She reported that in 2022, DOE mailed 39,779 notices. REPRESENTATIVE GRAY asked whether that figure represented a combined total of both notices. MS. BEECHER clarified that 39,779 reflected the first mailed notice. In January 2023, the division followed up by sending 15,094 of the second mailed notice. 2:23:59 PM REPRESENTATIVE GRAY estimated that about 24,000 people responded to the first mailed notice indicating that they wanted to remain on the voter registration list. He asked whether that was accurate. MS. BEECHER answered yes. CHAIR VANCE asked whether responding to the mailed notice was the only way to cancel a voter's registration in the state of Alaska. MS. BEECHER answered no, voters could cancel their registration by phone, mail, or email, in addition to the mailed notice. 2:24:56 PM REPRESENTATIVE EASTMAN asked whether an individual was required to provide his/her Social Security number or some other form of identification when cancelling a voter registration. MS. BEECHER directed the question to Ms. Wilson. 2:25:31 PM LORI WILSON, Regional Supervisor, Division of Elections (DOE), Office of the Lieutenant Governor, stated that individuals were asked to confirm their identity by providing multiple identifiers on their record when cancelling their voter registration. 2:26:56 PM REPRESENTATIVE GRAY questioned the difference between cancelling a voters registration and inactivating a voter's status on the voter registration list. MS. WILSON explained that an "active status" and condition code identified voters that were actively participating in elections. Alternatively, "inactive status" reflected inactivity on the voter's behalf, which was sometimes triggered by a death, a move out of state, or a felony conviction involving moral turpitude. She added that inactive voters remained in the system for a certain timeframe; however, they did not appear on the precinct registers at the polling places. 2:29:32 PM REPRESENTATIVE GRAY sought to confirm that there was no difference between cancelling a voter's registration and inactivating a voter's status on the voter registration list. MS. WILSON confirmed that a voter who cancels his/her registration would be moved to "inactive status" and would remain in the system for a certain amount of time. 2:30:03 PM CHAIR VANCE asked how long that period of time was. MS. WILSON said until the end of the list maintenance period unless the voter reactivated the registration by contacting the division before that time. REPRESENTATIVE GRAY said he was surprised that a deceased person would remain on the register for as long as a year. MS. BEECHER clarified that a deceased person would be removed from the voter registration list once the death was confirmed. 2:32:14 PM REPRESENTATIVE ALLARD asked how the division was notified of a death. MS. BEECHER said deaths were reported in a multitude of ways, including family, the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC) system, obituaries, and [Health Analytics and Vital Records]. REPRESENTATIVE ALLARD asked whether the division was updated on a daily basis. MS. BEECHER indicated that the division checked the obituaries on a weekly basis; vital statistics were checked on a monthly basis; and ERIC offered quarterly reports. 2:33:54 PM REPRESENTATIVE ALLARD characterized monthly updates as alarming and expressed an interest in tightening up the process. She requested a list of deceased voters who had been removed from the voter rolls from January 2023 to present. CHAIR VANCE pointed out that the bill sought to provide more tools to aid the division in this process. 2:35:17 PM REPRESENTATIVE EASTMAN asked how long it took the division to place a deceased person on inactive status. MS. WILSON clarified that death notices were processed by the division daily. She expounded on the process of confirming a death via obituary, explaining that the condition code was changed from "active" to "inactive deceased" immediately. REPRESENTATIVE EASTMAN asked whether the division took note of people who enter custody. MS. WILSON relayed that DOE received notice from the courts, in addition to the Department of Corrections (DOC), when individuals were convicted of crimes involving moral turpitude. REPRESENTATIVE EASTMAN asked how the division would become aware of convictions in an out-of-state court. MS. WILSON offered to follow up with the requested information. CHAIR VANCE asked how the division distinguished voters who were ineligible to vote in state elections on the voter registration list. MS. WILSON explained that permanent [inactive] overseas voters were flagged in the system as "IOS," indicating that they could only participate in federal races. CHAIR VANCE asked whether those individuals were registered on a separate list. MS. WILSON said everyone was registered in the same database. Voters with the IOS status and position code only received the federal ballot forms and envelopes, she added. CHAIR VANCE recalled the DOE data breach that impacted 113,000 Alaskans. She asked what the division had done to ensure that a bad actor was not voting with the stolen identifiers. MS. BEECHER sought clarity on the question. CHAIR VANCE asked whether hacked information could be used to impersonate an Alaskan by requesting a ballot or a change of address. MS. BEECHER offered to follow up with the requested information. 2:45:38 PM REPRESENTATIVE C. JOHNSON asked whether 20 ballots from the same address would flag the system. MS. BEECHER deferred to Ms. Wilson. MS. WILSON answered yes, it would initiate further investigation. REPRESENTATIVE C. JOHNSON asked whether signature verification was required for the cancellation notice. MS. WILSON said there was no signature verification process in statute; nonetheless, she pointed out that the mailers included an obscure voter number and name, which could be compared to the voter's identifiers and signature if needed. REPRESENTATIVE C. JOHNSON asked Ms. Wilson to describe the obscure voter number. MS. WILSON described it as voter number that was not clearly visible. REPRESENTATIVE C. JOHNSON sought to confirm that each mailed notice included an obscure voter number, similar to a watermark, which was used to identify the voter. MS. WILSON explained that each mailer was addressed to the voter and included a unique barcode. Additionally, the obscure voter number could be added, which was unique to the division. REPRESENTATIVE C. JOHNSON sought to verify that each barcode contained the voter's number, birthday, Social Security number, and driver's license number. MS. WILSON answered no. She clarified that the barcode was used as an identifier to pull up the voter's information. She stressed that the barcodes did not hold any personal information. 2:50:37 PM REPRESENTATIVE C. JOHNSON asked whether the identifiers obtained in the data breach could be used by a hacker to request a change of address. MS. WILSON clarified that the mailers were sent to the address on file - not a random person's house. She acknowledged that the division was incapable of stopping a person from stealing someone's mail. REPRESENTATIVE C. JOHNSON asked whether there were protections in place to stop a bad actor from requesting a change of address. MS. WILSON explained that multiple identifiers would be required to change a mailing address. 2:53:31 PM REPRESENTATIVE C. JOHNSON asked for verification that the identifiers included Social Security number, birthdate, and driver's license number, adding that the hackers would have obtained all three. MS. WILSON listed the identifiers contained in the voter registration as follows: voter number, last four digits of the Social Security number, date of birth, and Alaska driver's license number or state identification (ID) number. CHAIR VANCE asked which signatures were deemed acceptable under statute if there was no voter signature verification process. MS. WILSON said images of each voter's signature from past forms, such as the voter registration form, were collected and kept on record. MS. BEECHER stated that AS 15.07.060 required the applicant's signature, which could be represented by a "mark." She indicated that not every signature was necessarily available. CHAIR VANCE expressed concern that bad actors could replicate such marks. 2:56:34 PM REPRESENTATIVE GRAY pointed out that if a bad actor was using that information to register to vote or to change an address, individuals would realize at the polls that someone had already voted for them. He asked whether such instances had occurred since the data breach. MS. BEECHER said there was no indication that the breached data had been used to vote for nefarious purposes. She indicated that the system had undergone a "hardening" for the purposes of security. 2:58:17 PM CHAIR VANCE asked how many of the 113,000 Alaskans impacted by the data breach were on inactive status at the time. MS. BEECHER offered to follow up with the requested information. REPRESENTATIVE C. JOHNSON asked whether the division could track the inactive voters who reactivated their status by voting. MS. BEECHER offered to follow up with the requested information. 3:00:03 PM CHAIR VANCE emphasized that DOE had been following statute; however, she stated that Alaska's election statutes lacked thoroughness. She said the bill sought to provide more clarity in statute and announced that the CSHB 129(STA) would be held over.