The Alaska Division of Elections is asking the public to play a role this month in maintaining the accuracy of the state’s voter registration list.
Each December, the Division conducts its “Annual Voter List Maintenance Process,” a legally required effort to ensure voter records are current and correct under both state and federal law, including AS 15.07.130 and the National Voter Registration Act.
As part of that process, the Division sends out non-forwardable Voter Registration Confirmation Notices to certain registered voters. These notices go to individuals whose mail to the division has been returned in the past two years, who have had no contact with the division in two years, or who have not voted or appeared to vote in the last two general elections.
If that first notice comes back as undeliverable, a second, forwardable notice is mailed to the voter’s last known address. If the voter does not respond within 45 days, state law requires the division to move that registration to inactive status.
Alaskans may soon notice these envelopes arriving at their homes, sometimes addressed to people who no longer live there. The division is asking residents not to throw such mail away. Instead, recipients should mark the envelope “Return to Sender” and put it back in the mail. No postage is needed. Returning the notice is the trigger that allows the division to begin updating outdated voter records. Without that returned notice, the agency cannot legally inactivate old registrations, even when it is clear the voter has long since moved.
Election officials say it is common for candidates and volunteers to visit an address listed on the state’s voter rolls only to discover the named voter hasn’t lived there in years. That problem, the Division explains, often stems from confirmation notices being discarded rather than returned.
Accurate voter lists are critical for election integrity, resource planning, and the smooth operation of polling places, especially as the 2026 election cycle ramps up. The division says that Alaskans can meaningfully assist the process by simply returning these notices when they arrive for former occupants.
More information is available at the Division of Elections website, www.elections.alaska.gov.
2 thoughts on “Alaska Division of Elections is asking public to help it keep voter rolls accurate”
To receive any State funds, the State should require every entity receiving funds to forward names of employees that leave employment…
In rural Alaska where contracts for two years is a common practice in the School Districts and Native Health Corporations, it would help clear up the voter rolls at a near real time pace.
It is wholly unacceptable that our laws require a third party private individual to, out of the goodness of their heart and sense of ethics and morality, return a government letter not addressed to them. I’d be interested in reading the actual law that states a return notice by a third party is required to remove someone from the voter rolls, if I get time I will take the long dive into the particulars.