Student Voting Guide | Alaska

Registration

http://www.elections.alaska.gov/ (registration form available online)

The Alaska voter registration deadline is 30 days before the election, and mail-in registrations must be postmarked by that date.[1]  If you register in person before a registration official—that is, at a regional office at the Division of Elections—you must show some form of ID, including but not limited to a driver’s license, a state identification card, other current and valid photo ID, a birth certificate, a passport, or a hunting/fishing license.[2]  You can register to vote if you are within 90 days of your 18^th birthday and you can vote in a primary election if you will be 18 years old by the next general election.[3] 

Residency

Alaska defines voter residency as the place where your “habitation is fixed, and to which, whenever absent, [you have] the intention to return.”[4]  

At Home. Alaska has a gain-or-loss provision for students with regards to residency, meaning a college student does not automatically gain or lose residency solely by entering or leaving the state to attend college.[5]

At School. In Alaska, your “present intention to establish a permanent dwelling” at your school address is enough for you to establish residency.[6]  Alaska law puts considerable weight on where you choose to register to vote, and if you have the intent to remain for some period of time at your school address, you should be entitled to register and vote at that address.[7] 

Challenges to Residency. If your registration is denied by a registration official, you are entitled to a written statement of the reasons for the denial,[8] and the denial should be subject to automatic review by the local superior court.[9]  If your registration is initially accepted, then your residency should not be a basis for a challenge at the polls.[10]

Identification

NOTE: Many voter identification laws have recently been introduced across the country.  Please reference Voter ID Legislation in the States for information about identification requirements that your state may have enacted since this guide's 2010 update.

All voters must show identification at the polls.  You can show your voter registration card, driver’s license, state identification card, other current and valid photo identification, birth certificate, passport, or your hunting or fishing license.[11]  You can also show any of the following that includes your name and current address: utility bill, paycheck, bank statement, government check or other government document.[12]  If you are known to an election official, they may waive the ID requirement.[13]  If you do not have proper ID, but you provided ID at the time you registered, you can swear a declaration and vote a “questioned” ballot, which should be counted.[14]  Student IDs count as a valid ID if they have your photo on them; cell phone bills, online printouts of utility bills, and student housing or dormitory bills should all also count as valid ID if they have your voting address on them.[15] 

First-time voters who register by mail must either have their identity verified by providing a copy of identification with their registration application, or by showing ID at the polls;[16] this ID requirement cannot be waived if the election official knows you.[17]  While you can vote a questioned ballot, this ballot will likely not be counted.[18]

Absentee Voting

http://www.elections.alaska.gov/ot.php

Alaska is a “no-fault absentee” state—anyone may vote absentee, including first-time voters.[19]  You can send in your application for an absentee ballot by mail, available at the link above and on the web site of the Division of Elections by mail, fax, or even email (as a .pdf file), but it must be received by the Division of Elections by ten days before the election.[20]

To be counted, a mail-in absentee ballot must be postmarked on or before Election Day, and must be received within ten days after the election.[21]  You can also vote absentee ballot by fax in Alaska; your faxed application for a ballot must be received by 5:00 pm the day before the election, and you must fax your ballot back by Election Day at the latest.[22]  You will need to have a witness sign your absentee ballot envelope.[23]  An individual may also cast an absentee ballot in person, from 15 days before an election through Election Day.[24]

Early Voting

As a convenience to voters, Alaska has early voting for 15 days before an election and on Election Day.[25]  At early voting sites, you can vote any precinct’s ballot for that county.  If you do not consider your school address to be your permanent address, or if you have not changed your residence yet, then early voting provides an opportunity to vote a ballot at the residence from which you are absent. You should contact your local elections official to find out your designated early voting sites and hours.

 

 

Last updated in April 2010

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[1] Alaska Stat.  § 15.07.070(c), (d). 

[2] Alaska Stat. § 15.07.060(c) (2010).

[3] http://ltgov.state.ak.us/elections/vi_vr_who_can.php (last visited May 21, 2010), FairVote, “Voting Age and Registration,” available at http://www.fairvote.org/youth-preregistration-fact-sheet.

[4] Alaska Stat. § 15.05.020(2) (2010).

[5] Alaska Stat. § 15.05.020(1) (2010).

[6] Alaska Stat.  § 15.05.020(5).

[7] Correspondence with Alaska Division of Elections (July 17, 2008).

[8] Alaska Stat.  § 15.07.070(b).

[9] Alaska Stat.  § 15.07.150.

[10] Alaska Stat.  § 15.20.207 (residency is not a grounds for refusing to count a questioned ballot); Id. at § 15.15.210 (procedures for questioning voters).

[11] Alaska Stat.  § 15.15.225(a)(1) (2010).

[12] Alaska Stat.  § 15.15.225(a)(2).

[13] Alaska Stat.  § 15.15.225(b).

[14] Alaska Stat.  § 15.15.225(c) (2010).

[15] Correspondence with Alaska Division of Elections (July 17, 2008).

[16] Alaska Stat. § 15.07.060(e) (2010).

[17] Alaska Stat.  § 15.15.225(b).

[18] See Alaska Stat.  § 15.20.207(b)(2). 

[19] Alaska Stat.  § 15.20.010.

[20] Alaska Stat. § 15.20.081(a), (b).

[21] Alaska Stat.  § 15.20.081(e) (2010).

[22] Alaska Stat.  § 15.20.081(e) (2010).

[23] Alaska Stat.  § 15.20.081(d).

[24] Alaska Stat.  § 15.20.061.

[25] Alaska Stat. § 15.20.064(a).