Meeting colors

OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD

Record of Proceedings

Anchorage Election Commission Recount Certification & Voter Warning Discussion - April 27, 2026

Assembly & Committee Meetings — Monday, April 27, 2026

BodyAnchorage, Alaska

SessionAssembly & Committee Meetings

DateMonday, April 27, 2026

StatusFILED

Video Record

0:00 / 30:58

Transcript — VerbatimClick a timed line to jump · ⧉ to share it

0:03

Awesome.

0:04

I'm going to call the speaker to order.

0:05

My name is Katie Dillon.

0:07

I'm the chair of this commission.

0:08

And sitting next to me are please introduce yourselves real quick.

0:12

No.

0:13

I am Commissioner Lauren Boyman.

0:17

Ralph Duir.

0:19

And Cody.

0:23

And there are no minutes to approve at this time.

0:26

Is there any member disclosures to discuss?

0:32

Seeing none.

0:35

We have no audience members.

0:37

Do we have the audience members on the phone?

0:40

I haven't heard any.

0:43

Thank you.

0:44

Then I'm going to go straight to new businesses.

0:48

We have no old business to discuss.

0:50

I'm sorry.

0:53

I'd like to under unfinished business ask for something to be done.

0:58

We can do that.

0:59

We'll go back to unfinished business.

1:01

I've thought about this, you know, those people who did not follow the rules, you know, sign for somebody else, and we I think we ended up sending one back to we vote to act on.

1:17

I request that all of the others at least get a letter that says you did this, it's against the law.

1:27

Don't do it again.

1:30

Not quite that snarky, but at least, you know, and I'm not so big on starting the legal procedure, but sending a letter to them saying that what they did was wrong.

1:48

And uh and we noticed it and we cut it.

1:53

We'd be a good thing.

1:54

So that's my request.

1:57

Would any of the other commissioners like to respond to that thought?

2:14

Um I'm looking at our letters.

2:20

We have uh reject letters that we said within 30 days, and I am required by the vote to advise the voter that their letter or that their ballot was rejected.

2:35

And so the redo that we yeah, we already do this.

2:41

Um voted by another I should we have a legal opinion ready.

2:53

If the reject letter we tell them why it was rejected, correct?

2:56

Yeah, voter AMC 2885010 requires that voters be informed if their ballot casts in the election were not counted, the Inchorage Election Commission made the following determination regarding your ballot.

3:10

The election commission was unable to count your ballot because your ballot was voted by another um the election commission met in public canvas, public session of Canvas on April 23rd.

3:22

If you have questions, you can call us.

3:25

And then if you wish to verify your um voter registration and vote if you would like we can add a paragraph that talks about um voters must vote their own ballot, and we can certainly do that.

3:41

Thank you.

3:43

I think that letter covers if we can add a sentence or paragraph to it.

3:48

Maybe put a little bit more juice behind it.

3:51

More juice.

3:52

Got it.

3:53

Okay.

3:56

Did our legal counsel have I was just gonna give the code citation or excuse me?

4:12

I was just gonna give this code citation.

4:15

Uh Ms.

4:16

Heinz just written, so she's hungry.

4:18

Okay.

4:20

I guess we're not trapped here today.

4:22

Eva Gardner, municipal attorney.

4:24

I just wanted to point out practically, I don't know that that letter necessarily uh addresses your concern because this letter goes to the voter who did not vote their own ballot, and if the idea is to give a cautionary, you know, give a caution to the individual who engaged in the logical conduct, which would be like your mic.

4:44

Well, we it's the system.

4:46

If the the speaker is facing, we're having some feedback, so sorry.

4:51

Um if the if the concern is that you want to make sure that the individual who incorrectly voted the ballot receives the warning, they will not receive this letter because it goes to the actual voter whose ballot was voted.

5:07

So what you're saying is that in order to make the statement to who ever voted that ballot, it leads to go at least to the voter who was supposed to vote that ballot and state the legal consequences, and that we didn't end up the reason for the rejection of your ballot was for this reason and this reason as consequences will go to get their risks.

5:40

And that tells the voter.

5:42

So let's say my ballot comes to my house, somebody in my household votes my ballot for me.

5:47

I'm gonna be the one who gets the letter.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting

Election Procedures█████████████████████████████████████████████91%

Procedural███6%

Public Safety█3%

Summary of Proceedings

Anchorage Election Commission Recount Certification & Voter Warning Discussion - April 27, 2026

The Anchorage Election Commission met on April 27, 2026, to address unfinished business concerning ballots voted by unauthorized individuals and to certify the results of a recount for Assembly District 4 Seat C. The commission unanimously accepted the recount results, which matched the original vote tallies exactly, and confirmed that the recount process complied with law. No public testimony was heard.

Unfinished Business – Warning Letters for Unauthorized Ballot Voting

Commissioner Ralph Duir requested that letters be sent to voters whose ballots were rejected because someone else voted them, adding a paragraph emphasizing the illegality of the practice. Chair Katie Dillon noted that existing rejection letters already cite the reason ("ballot voted by another") per code AMC 28.85.010.
Municipal Attorney Eva Gardner pointed out that the current letter goes to the voter whose ballot was not counted, not necessarily to the individual who actually voted the ballot, so it may not reach the intended recipient. Duir acknowledged the limitation but argued the ballot owner is still responsible. No formal motion was made; the chair indicated the matter would be handled under the existing vote.

Discussion – Recount Certification for District 4 Seat C

Municipal Clerk Matt reported on the automatic recount held on April 24, 2026, triggered by a margin under 0.5% between the top two candidates. The recount reviewed 66,848 ballots in 827 batches with observers for both candidates and public attendance.
Approximately 140–150 ballots required adjudication (ambiguous marks, overvotes, write‑ins). There were zero challenges. Final results were unchanged: Dave Donnelly – 5,004 votes; Kim Winston – 397 votes; Janice Park – 5,030 votes.
Commissioner Whipple asked about evidence of ballot harvesting; Clerk responded that no such evidence was found and described existing safeguards (reviewing witness signatures, limiting special‑needs ballot requests to two).

Key Outcomes

Motion to accept recount results: passed unanimously (all members present voted yes).
Motion to certify that the recount process complied with law and that no illegal practices affected the outcome: passed unanimously (all members present voted yes).
These motions serve as the commission’s report to the Assembly, per code 28.90.

Commissioner Comments

Commissioner Lehman emphasized the importance of every vote and praised the accuracy of the recount, noting that identical results demonstrate system competency.
Commissioner Duir expressed satisfaction that the recount effectively replicated the original election with no challenges, reinforcing public confidence in the process.
Clerk added historical context about prior prosecutions for unauthorized voting, where family members voted on behalf of those who were out of town, and reiterated that alternative options (e.g., mail forwarding) are available.

Meeting Transcript

Awesome. I'm going to call the speaker to order. My name is Katie Dillon. I'm the chair of this commission. And sitting next to me are please introduce yourselves real quick. No. I am Commissioner Lauren Boyman. Ralph Duir. And Cody. And there are no minutes to approve at this time. Is there any member disclosures to discuss? Seeing none. We have no audience members. Do we have the audience members on the phone? I haven't heard any. Thank you. Then I'm going to go straight to new businesses. We have no old business to discuss. I'm sorry. I'd like to under unfinished business ask for something to be done. We can do that. We'll go back to unfinished business. I've thought about this, you know, those people who did not follow the rules, you know, sign for somebody else, and we I think we ended up sending one back to we vote to act on. I request that all of the others at least get a letter that says you did this, it's against the law. Don't do it again. Not quite that snarky, but at least, you know, and I'm not so big on starting the legal procedure, but sending a letter to them saying that what they did was wrong. And uh and we noticed it and we cut it. We'd be a good thing. So that's my request. Would any of the other commissioners like to respond to that thought? Um I'm looking at our letters. We have uh reject letters that we said within 30 days, and I am required by the vote to advise the voter that their letter or that their ballot was rejected. And so the redo that we yeah, we already do this. Um voted by another I should we have a legal opinion ready. If the reject letter we tell them why it was rejected, correct? Yeah, voter AMC 2885010 requires that voters be informed if their ballot casts in the election were not counted, the Inchorage Election Commission made the following determination regarding your ballot. The election commission was unable to count your ballot because your ballot was voted by another um the election commission met in public canvas, public session of Canvas on April 23rd. If you have questions, you can call us. And then if you wish to verify your um voter registration and vote if you would like we can add a paragraph that talks about um voters must vote their own ballot, and we can certainly do that. Thank you. I think that letter covers if we can add a sentence or paragraph to it. Maybe put a little bit more juice behind it. More juice. Got it. Okay. Did our legal counsel have I was just gonna give the code citation or excuse me? I was just gonna give this code citation. Uh Ms. Heinz just written, so she's hungry. Okay.

SUMMARIZED BY OPENPUBLICA AI

TRANSCRIPT VIA PUBLIC VIDEO
openpublica.com