By Suzanne Downing 
A new ballot initiative aimed at reinforcing that only US citizens may vote in Alaska’s elections has officially launched. Alaskans for Citizen Voting, a grassroots coalition, announced it has begun gathering signatures across the state to place the measure before voters.
The group’s proposal would clarify Alaska’s election statute by stating that “only a person who is a citizen of the United States” may vote in any state or local election.
Why is that needed? Under current law, Alaska already limits voting to US citizens. Yet, sponsors say the clarification is needed to prevent any future attempts to extend voting rights to non-citizens, which has occurred in several other states and municipalities, such as Washington, DC.
The initiative effort received approval from the Office of the Lieutenant Governor, allowing signature collection to proceed. Organizers must gather tens of thousands of verified signatures from at least three-fourths of Alaska’s 40 house districts to qualify the measure for the ballot.
The initiative is sponsored by three veteran lawmakers: former Sen. John Coghill of Fairbanks, former Rep. Mike Chenault of Kenai, and former Sen.Josh Revak of Anchorage.
Coghill said the proposal reflects the intent of Alaska’s constitutional framers. “The framers of our state’s constitution intended that the voting privilege should be granted only to U.S. citizens,” he said. “Recent actions in other states require Alaska to clarify our law.”
Chenault called the measure “common sense and consistent with what most Alaskans believe is already the law,” while Revak, a veteran and the husband of a naturalized U.S. citizen, emphasized that “the right to vote is central to our democracy.”
Brett Huber, state director for Americans For Prosperity, said, “The intent has been always clear that voting is citizen-only right, and this is something we should not have to do, but with our courts and their inexplicable actions of late, it’s better safe than sorry.”
Across the country, the debate over non-citizen voting has intensified. Several jurisdictions – including Washington, D.C., and select cities in Maryland, Vermont, California, and Illinois – have opened some local elections to non-citizens. In response, 14 states since 2018 have enacted constitutional or statutory language affirming that only US citizens may vote.
Alaskans for Citizen Voting describes its mission as “a citizen-led effort to protect the integrity of Alaska’s elections by ensuring our laws clearly reflect that voting is a right reserved for United States citizens.”
The group’s top financial backer is Americans for Citizen Voting, a national organization advocating for similar citizen-only voting measures in other states.
More information is available at alaskansforcitizenvoting.com.
Josh, your views and voting record on the PFD are why you are not a current State Senator. Your replacement, Kaufman, is also destined for removal.
Both of you have voted against the calculations laid out in State Statute, and in favor of the reprehensible, turncoat policies of the Governor that shall not be named (Walker).
Admit your mistake. Revise your position; and, maybe we can believe and support what you say.
Sad that we can’t simply ask our legislators to develop and pass bills that address this without residents having to spill more green blood to place this initiative on the ballot. I’m certain if I proposed this to my Senator ’Loopy Loki’ she would tell me I’m a hater.
I’m old enough to remember when Joe Miller’s plea for this measure 15 years ago was ignored by some of these very lawmakers. It’s about time they got up to speed. But when are we going to hear their public apologies for ignoring the issue for years?
The commenters on here are onto something–the real problem. It is not that of illegal aliens (or legal aliens) voting. Rather it is that we even need to pass legislation to prohibit them from voting. It’s incredible to think that such legislation is needed. Are there no laws already in place?
Could someone explain the difference between the law that now is, and the proposed law?
1) How is this better?
2) If the effort to implement the new law fails, does that signal voting is open for violating the law that now is?
If current law is not being followed, doesn’t that reflect directly on the current Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom who is in charge of elections and the current Attorney General Treg Taylor who can prosecute crime? This is a serious issue.
I see that proven RINO Josh Revak is tring to peddle the radical left’s message by erroneously and disingenuously referring to “our democracy”. We do NOT live in a democracy, but a republic!