Anchorage is making sure its 2022 election will be safe and secure

The Municipality of Anchorage is about to enter “election season” once again! On Jan. 14, 2022, candidates may begin filing for municipal office for the April 5, 2022 regular municipal election ballot. Candidate filing forms are posted on the municipal website at muni.org/elections, along with information about which Assembly, School Board, and Service Area Board seats are up in this election. The MOA Elections Team, a part of the municipal clerk’s office, works for the citizens of Anchorage year-round on elections, seeking out best practices for voting and election administration, and improving outreach efforts to help voters understand local election processes.

Earlier this month, the Elections Team mailed address verification postcards to all registered voters in Anchorage. This postcard informs voters where your ballot package will be mailed for the next election. If the address is incorrect, now is the time to update your information. If you receive a postcard to someone not at your address, mark it “return to sender” and put it back in the mail.

Keeping your voter registration information current is an important way you can help municipal elections stay accurate and secure. In Alaska, the state Division of Elections maintains the voter registration database for all Alaskans. If you move within the state, you can update your address online at voterregistration.alaska.gov or with a paper form available at all libraries, the Division of Motor Vehicles, the Municipal Clerk’s Office, or the Division of Elections. Voters who move out of state should cancel their Alaska voter registration by contacting the state Division of Elections.

New this coming year for Anchorage municipal elections is an exciting partnership with BallotTrax. Voters will be able to “track” or check the status of their ballot through the BallotTrax website at anchoragevotes.com. You can sign up there to receive text, email or voicemail alerts when the status of your ballot changes.

Another yearly election task is the review of the Elections Code, Title 28. The Elections Team, with the assistance of the Anchorage Election Commission, the Assembly Ethics and Elections Committee, and municipal attorneys, reviews Title 28 to see if any changes are warranted to help implement MOA Elections’ vision and mission to put forward pro-voter policies, improve voting accessibility, and include “best election practices” to make election processing more transparent and efficient. Each election is different, and each year, the Elections Team learns better ways to help voters and improve elections. The recommendations are brought to the Assembly for public hearing and potential adoption.

This year’s review of Title 28 resulted in a short list of proposed code improvements detailed in Anchorage Ordinance 2021-110(S) which will be before the Assembly for public hearing on Dec. 21. Some changes clarify confusing language, clarify the rules for counting write-in votes, and save taxpayer money by preventing ballot packages from automatically being mailed to voters who haven’t voted in four years. The ordinance sets out some changes to the election observer program, proposing registration deadlines, improved training, and clearer rules to ensure that observers are provided information on election processes and that the election is processed fairly and efficiently — a goal for all voters, observers, candidates and election officials.

There are no proposed changes in the election observer program to the number of observers allowed per candidate, the time periods when observers may observe, the requirement for training, the reasons why an observer may be asked to leave an election location, or the MOA Election Team’s commitment to ensuring that observers have the opportunity to understand and observe election processes.

As the Municipality heads into this upcoming election season, watch for opportunities to work as an election official, and to tour the Election Center to learn more about the local election process. Check out the comprehensive Elections website at muni.org/elections to find answers to frequently asked questions, and follow the clerk’s office Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts for the latest announcements about elections and other legislative branch information.

And any time, year-round, you can call the Anchorage Voter Hotline at 907-243-VOTE (8683) or email elections@anchorageak.gov, if you have any questions.

Erika McConnell is the Deputy Clerk for Elections for the Municipality of Anchorage.

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