Anchorage Election Commission Work Session – February 26, 2026
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Anchorage Election Commission Work Session – February 26, 2026
On February 26, 2026, the Anchorage Election Commission met in a work session, chaired by Katie Nolan. Due to the absence of a quorum, the meeting was informal, with only two members present (Ralph and Katie). The primary topics were an election update from staff and a discussion on the annual election commission procedures.
Election Update
- The election website now includes the order and numbers of the proposition text, and a sample ballot map is live. Voters can search their address to see their ballot style at muni.org (under "See What’s on My Ballot").
- Ballots have been sent to the printer. Military and overseas ballots will be mailed on March 2, 2026, and domestic ballots on March 17, 2026.
- Logic and accuracy testing of the tabulation and scanning system will occur on March 5, 2026, at 10 a.m. at the election center. The testing is open to the public, and commission members are encouraged to attend.
- The voter registration deadline is March 8, 2026.
- Drop boxes will be deployed on March 11–12 and will be open on March 17 for ballot drop-offs.
- Vote centers will open on March 31, 2026. Hours and locations are on the website.
- Voters traveling during the election may apply to vote at a temporary address via email, fax, or secure document forum.
Discussion Items
- The annual election commission procedures were tabled because two members were absent and staff lacked capacity for additional meetings during the election preparation period. Chair Nolan decided to postpone review until after the April election, moving it to unfinished business at the next regular meeting.
- Members emphasized the need for improved communication, particularly sending reminder emails a week before meetings to ensure attendance. Chair Nolan committed to that practice.
Key Outcomes
- The annual procedures review was postponed until after the April election (scheduled for April 23, 2026). The public campus work session will be from 2–4 p.m. on April 23, followed by the regular meeting from 5 p.m. onward.
- The meeting was adjourned early due to the lack of quorum and limited agenda items.
Meeting Transcript
Go ahead and go ahead and call it meeting or get us recording. Okay. My name is Katie Nolan. I'm the chair of the election commission. Um beside me is we do not have minutes of the previous meeting. Uh any disclosures? So we're just gonna meet in a work session, so we're not really gonna follow the agenda. Okay. Um, we're just gonna say who's just who's present, Ralph and Katie, and and then we can go on to the business items. Okay, so business election update from election. Yeah, so pretty brief today since I did a more thorough update um last month. So right now our website has the order of the proposition text as well as the numbers, and we made live our sample ballot map. So voters can search their address, click on the ballot style for what they'll be mailed so that they can take a look at what their ballot will look like that's on our website, so meaning.org forward slash elections. I believe it's on the I want to, and I think it's see what's on my ballot, and then that should bring them to the sample ballot map. We sent the ballots to the printers. The military and overseas are scheduled to be mailed out on March 2nd, so next Monday. The rest of the like the domestic will be mailed out on March 17th. Who mails out? You mail out or the printer? The printers. And then uh logic and accuracy testing is on March 5th at 10 a.m. here at the election center. We will be testing the tabulation and scanning system. A commission members are may attend that. Yeah, it's open to the public, so anybody can come. Uh I think Amy did send out a reminder and in her email because we typically would like the commission to be there, but it's open to the public, so anybody can come and watch. So that'll be at 10 a.m. on March 5th. March 8th is the voter registration deadline. Drop boxes will be deployed on March 11th, 12th, and will be open on the 17th for voters to drop off their ballots. Vote centers will be open starting March 31st. We uh the hours and locations can also be found on our website. And if voters will be traveling during the election, as always, they can apply to vote at a temporary address by email, by ax, or secure document forum. And that's my update. Thank you. And election commission the annual. Um as we don't have a quorum, I would like to handle this. Um I think if you have identified areas that you want changed, I think you can just let me know. And we can um incorporate them into a track changes document, and we can just move this to unfinished business at the next meeting. And then it'll be in track changes for you guys to review and make motions on at the next meeting. Well, it's just you and I. And I'm really uncomfortable doing this without the other two. Shorthanded. Well, how do you feel about it? Um it's it's somewhat my fault. I have not yet reviewed the and so I'm not prepared today to discuss any changes. Okay. And I think we need to work more on communication. Um if that's where it fell down with the missing members. Can we work on perhaps getting a reminder email out several days before meetings?
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