January 20, 2009
Tuesday

Each year, the Alaska Division of Elections reviews the voter registration list to remove the names of voters who have not voted or had contact with the Division in the previous four years. The list maintenance process for 2009 is underway.

Under state law, voter list maintenance is a two step process. First the Division sends the voter a notice asking for address confirmation. If the first notice cannot be delivered by the post office, it is returned as "undeliverable". Any voter whose first notice is returned as "undeliverable" must be sent a second notice to the voter's last known address with a request for the post office to forward it to any new address on file for the voter.

The Division of Elections has recently mailed the second list maintenance notice to over 28,000 voters. This is the final notice a voter will receive. Voters who do not respond to this notice by March 3, 2009 will be inactivated and their names will not appear on the list of voters used at the polling place. Voters that have been inactivated due to list maintenance may still vote using a questioned ballot. If they vote at any time within four years after being inactivated their ballot will count. Voting a questioned ballot will also activate and update their voter registration record.

"It is important for people to respond to the notice if they want to remain a registered voter", said Gail Fenumiai, Director of the Division of Elections. There are numerous cases where voters move either out of state or elsewhere in Alaska and simply fail to notify the Division. If you receive a notice addressed to a voter that is no longer at the address, please mark "Return to Sender" and send the notice back to the Division of Elections. This will allow the Division to inactivate the voter's record.

Source of News:

Alaska Division of Elections
www.elections.alaska.gov

 

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