By SUZANNE DOWNING
April 30, 2026 – Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy has vetoed Senate Bill 64, the controversial elections overhaul that has dominated debate in Juneau this month and drawn attention in prior reporting and columns from The Alaska Story.
In an unscientific poll run on The Alaska Story Facebook page, over 740 participants wanted the governor to veto the bill, while only two wanted him to sign it.
The conservative base may have spoken in that poll: Alaskans are already frustrated with ranked-choice voting, and yet SB 64 did nothing to remove that haywire system from the voting process. Instead, it just piled on bureaucratic work intended to help rural Alaska voters.
In a formal veto letter dated April 29, Dunleavy acknowledged that portions of the bill contained improvements he supports, including stronger safeguards around Permanent Fund dividend voter registration data and enhanced audit and reporting requirements. But he concluded that, taken as a whole, the legislation would create serious operational risks for Alaska’s election system, particularly with a major election cycle looming in 2026.
“Alaskans need an election process that is simple, understandable, secure, and implemented with sufficient time,” Dunleavy wrote, warning that the Division of Elections had indicated the changes would be “extremely difficult, if not impossible,” to implement securely before the next statewide contests.
The governor’s veto centers heavily on concerns about timing and execution. SB 64 would make numerous changes to election procedures, including ballot tracking systems, expanded ballot-curing provisions, and modifications tied to voter registration and election administration. But according to the administration, layering those changes into an already active election cycle raises the risk of errors and undermines public confidence.
One provision singled out in the veto involves ballot curing: Allowing voters to fix missing information after a ballot has been submitted. Dunleavy said this creates tension with Alaska’s longstanding requirement that absentee ballots be witnessed by someone at the time they are cast. Allowing a missing witness signature to be added after the fact, he argued, conflicts with that framework and presents both legal and procedural concerns.
The Division of Elections, according to the letter, has also warned that such systems cannot be responsibly built, tested, and deployed in time for the 2026 general election.
Lawmakers attempted to address that issue by proposing a delayed effective date, but Dunleavy indicated that change did not go far enough to resolve the underlying implementation challenges of not being able to verify witness signatures.
The veto marks a major setback for the Democrat-led majority and the handful of enabling Republicans who advanced the bill as a priority measure. The Democrats had celebrated the passage of the bill and the Democratic Party had used its passage to raise money for campaigns to beat Republicans.
Critics have argued it would weaken safeguards, and tilt the system in ways that benefit one political side: Democrats.
Dunleavy’s message echoes many of those concerns, particularly around complexity and public trust.
“It is essential that Alaska’s electoral process remains accessible and secure, backed by a commitment to careful management,” he wrote, adding that the bill would introduce “significant election changes during an active election cycle, raising material operational and legal concerns that are contrary to the best interests of Alaskans.”
The veto now sets up a potential override battle in the Legislature. Lawmakers would need a two-thirds vote in a joint session to override the governor’s decision, an outcome that is far from certain given divisions within Republican ranks and the narrow margins that have defined much of this session. It’s unclear which Republicans will override the Republican governor and risk their upcoming reelection in November.
The Legislature is supposed to convene immediately after a veto to hold a joint session for an override vote. That could happen Friday or Monday.
Veto letter to Legislature:
