By SUZANNE DOWNING
July 15, 2026 – Supporters of a proposed Fairbanks North Star Borough ballot initiative have just over a week left to gather signatures for a measure that would require all borough election ballots to be counted by hand instead of by electronic tabulation.
The initiative, co-sponsored by former state Rep. Tammie Wilson and Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly member Barbara Haney, has been circulating since April 24. Petition organizers must submit enough valid signatures by July 23 to qualify the measure for a future borough ballot. Organizers have estimated they need roughly 2,300 valid signatures.
If approved by voters, the ordinance would require hand-counting of ballots in Fairbanks North Star Borough elections, replacing the borough’s current system of electronic tabulation using Dominion voting equipment. The proposal would apply to borough elections, including races for mayor, borough assembly, and school board. It is not expected to automatically extend to separate municipal elections conducted by the cities of Fairbanks or North Pole.
Supporters say the primary motivation is financial rather than technological.
Haney has argued that the borough spends more than necessary maintaining voting machines, software, transportation, and storage for a relatively small number of municipal races each year. She has pointed to other Alaska communities, including the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, that conduct local elections using hand-count procedures.
The proposal also arrives amid continued national debate over election administration. Although borough officials conducted a hand-count audit following the 2025 municipal election that matched the machine-tabulated results exactly, some residents continue to express concerns about electronic voting equipment and favor returning to manual counting.
Opponents of hand-counting say manual tabulation can require more workers, take longer to produce official results, and may introduce human counting errors. On the other hand, hand-counting is more transparent because observers can directly watch ballots being counted, and don’t have to wonder if a machine has been tampered with.
