The witness signature requirement on mail-in ballots has been a point of contention in Alaska, with opponents of the requirement calling it a bureaucratic roadblock.
a Superior Court ruled the witness signature requirement was unconstitutional due to the pandemic making it difficult for people to gather.
State Division of Elections spokesperson Tiffany Montemayor says while officials are concerned any time they have to reject a ballot, they’re bound by state law. Within rural Alaska, the region covering Bethel and surrounding Yukon-Kuskokwim villages had the highest rejection rate in the state, at around 17%, or 1 in 6 ballots. Almost two-thirds of rejections were due to a lack of witness signature.
Montemayor said the Division of Elections spent more money on educational outreach in English and Alaska Native languages than any prior Alaska election. She said the division also did a live Yup’ik interview on Bethel public radio station KYUK that emphasized ballot requirements and a collaboration with Yuit Communications to ensure the information given to Native corporations was accurate and the same as information given out in English.
“Witness signatures are required by law, which lawmakers can change,” she said. “It is also true that witness signatures may be ‘any mark’ and the division does not match witness — or voter — signatures against signatures it has on file.” “Without legal authority to count ballots that have been cured, the division does not have the authority to do so by emergency regulation,” Montemayor said.
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