Category: Alaska News

The latest news and information from your Alaska news station.

The latest news and information from your Alaska news station.

The state of Alaska has removed an estimated 3,000 to 3,500 Alaskans from the state’s active voter list, claiming they may be noncitizens.

The removals leave those residents able to vote only if they provide extra identity information, and removal puts them on track to be purged from the state’s voter roll altogether.

Only U.S. citizens may vote in Alaska, according to state and federal law, but many of the removals appear to have affected citizens who were erroneously flagged by the Alaska Division of Motor Vehicles. 

Carol Beecher, director of the Alaska Division of Elections, told state lawmakers on Wednesday that the removals were the result of “old data” given to the division from the DMV, and she isn’t sure why so many Alaskans were flagged as possible noncitizens.

Under Alaska’s “motor voter” program, people are asked if they want to register to vote when they apply for a driver’s license. The registration process requires the applicant to state whether or not they are a citizen. 

Elections officials check the state’s voter roll against DMV records several times per year, searching for people who may be incorrectly registered to vote here. That usually results in “more like 200 names” being flagged for extra attention, Beecher said. 

The latest check found “a lot more names than we were expecting,” Beecher said.

“We believe that when we did the match, that a lot of old data was picked up somehow. So we’re still ferreting through that,” she said. 

Beecher said that although the number of names flagged by the DMV was “very concerning,” the state has an obligation to act on the agency’s report.

“It is not disenfranchising the individual from being able to vote, but it’s a measure the division has to take to make sure that we only have citizens voting,” she said. 

Under its normal procedure, the division sends letters to people who were flagged by the DMV, asking those people if they are citizens.

Thousands of those letters were mailed to affected state residents starting last month, according to Beecher’s testimony and copies provided to the Beacon by affected citizens.

Beecher told lawmakers that anyone deemed a noncitizen by the state simply needs to contact the Division of Elections by phone, email or mail and state that they are a citizen.

“It is not an onerous request from the division to simply contact us and confirm, and that is what we have asked them to do. We don’t require paperwork. We’re not requiring documentation. Nothing like that,” she said.

After Beecher’s statements, the Beacon asked the head of the Alaska Division of Motor Vehicles, Kathy Wallace, and the Commissioner of the Alaska Department of Administration, Paula Vrana, for an interview. The Department of Administration is the DMV’s parent agency.

In response, the division sent a memo saying that in March, “the DOE provided DMV with a list of approximately 15,200 DMV license and identification applicants and requested that DMV provide citizenship information for these records. This was a non-routine request.”

What it gave to the Division of Elections was “only those records where DMV’s latest confirmed status for an individual was other than ‘Citizen.’”

Based on interviews with affected people, the records flagged by the DMV appear to include Alaskans who obtained driver’s licenses as noncitizens, then became citizens and registered to vote, but have not received a new driver’s license since becoming a citizen.

Alaskans respond to being put on the inactive list

Chris Waigl of Fairbanks got her Alaska driver’s license in 2019 and became an American citizen in 2025. She became alarmed after checking her registration status last weekend, only to learn that she was listed as “inactive – non citizen.”

“They were able to correct it there and then after I sent in copies of my naturalization certificate with a date before my voter registration date,” she said by email.

But Waigl went further, contacting four other people who became naturalized citizens at the same time she did. Of those, only one said they were still listed as an active voter.

One of the others, reached by phone, said he was listed as inactive despite registering as a voter at the local DMV office and presenting his citizenship paperwork at that time.

Another naturalized citizen, living in Juneau and unaffiliated with Waigl, said they also were unregistered despite indicating on their Permanent Fund dividend application that they are a citizen.

Several people affected by the removal said they have attempted to contact the Division of Elections but have been unable to reach staff by phone, and that voicemail boxes have been full.

“It’s just ridiculous,” Waigl said.

She said the state’s policy of simply sending a letter is inadequate, particularly because there may be legal consequences if the state or federal government believes someone has voted as a noncitizen.

“Citizenship rights, immigration is something I’m interested in for obvious reasons,” she said.

This isn’t the first time voter registration issues have been attributed to the DMV. 

In 2022, mistakes by the division led to dozens of noncitizens being registered to vote, even if they specifically stated they were nonresidents and ineligible. Some went on to cast ballots in state and local elections.

The scale of the new removals is notable. Last year, a copy of the state’s inactive voter list showed 541 registrations listed as belonging to possible noncitizens. 

If 3,500 people were added to the inactive list by the Division of Elections, that would represent more than a 700% increase.

The removals caused the state’s active voter roll to shrink between June and July, the first time since at least 2020 that has occurred in an election year, state statistics show.

The removals come seven months after Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom, who oversees the Division of Elections, directed the state to answer a request from the U.S. Department of Justice and turn over extended copies of the state’s voter rolls. 

The Justice Department has made similar requests across the country and intends to share the data with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to check for noncitizens who may have voted illegally.

The tool used by DHS is error-prone and has erroneously flagged some citizens, according to an investigation by ProPublica.

States led by Democratic officials have accused the federal government of deliberately attempting to raise fear, uncertainty and doubt about state elections systems in order to lay the groundwork for challenges to the 2026 midterm elections.

“I’m just truly deeply concerned about this process creating even more distrust in our voter rolls, as if there isn’t enough already because of allegations,” Rep. Ky Holland, I-Anchorage, told Beecher on Wednesday.

A memo signed by Beecher and U.S. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon in December calls for the state to remove voters from the active list if they are specifically identified by the federal government.  

Civil rights groups sued the state in April over the voter list issue. In June, the state filed a motion to dismiss; that motion is awaiting adjudication. 

State legislators asked Beecher on Wednesday if the latest removals were at the behest of the federal government.

No, said Beecher.

“It has nothing to do with that,” she said. “The information that we have received is specifically from DMV. Why the voter list or why the list was so large this time, we’re not completely sure… we are looking into figuring that out.”

But, she added, if the federal government were to request a removal, the state would follow the exact same procedure as it used recently.

“If we were to get information from them, we would take the same steps of moving them into inactive while we investigated,” she said.

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Sandi Thares owns the O-Haire Inn in downtown Great Falls and serves as president of the Great Falls Police Community Foundation for nearly 10 years. She said the work brought her a strong sense of purpose.

Mizzou track and field was represented by two athletes at the USATF Outdoor Track & Field Championships, while Chandler Gibbens, a graduate of Hickman High School, also competed.

Everett Joyce poses as the newest recruit of Mizzou wrestling’s 2026 class. Mizzou coach Brian Smith announced the signing of the Wichita, Kansas, product on Thursday.

(The Center Square) – The Trump administration imposed forced-labor tariffs on 60 trading partners Thursday, covering most U.S. imports, but did not say what the duties will cost American consumers.

I didn’t learn about the permanent closure of the University of Alaska Anchorage Testing Center through a campus press release or a community town hall. I learned about it on a quiet summer afternoon while taking my 14-year-old son to sit for an exam for college credit. Watching a teenager step up, take initiative and unlock his potential early is an incredible feeling—a vivid testament to what is possible when accessible local infrastructure exists to lift our kids up.

But as we were leaving, a staff member warned us to schedule whatever remaining exams we could as quickly as possible. She was exasperated—and rightfully so. She had just been notified via a Friday afternoon email that the center was closing permanently on July 30th, and the entire staff was out of a job. Just like that, with only a few weeks’ notice in the dead of summer, dedicated employees were discarded and an essential public institution was quietly dismantled.

The staffer said that, according to the university’s email, the rationale centers on reallocation: stripping funds from existing student support services to concentrate resources on recruitment, registration and driving up top-line enrollment numbers. But this strategy reveals a shortsighted paradox: What is the point of pouring money into recruiting new students if we gut the very infrastructure required for them to test, advance and graduate?

What makes this closure so catastrophic is that UAA’s Testing Center was never just a room with computer desks. It was Southcentral Alaska’s only comprehensive, all-in-one physical testing hub. Unlike small, specialized private sites that handle only specific vendors, UAA’s facility managed the entire academic and professional spectrum—college course exams, ACCUPLACER placement, statewide professional licensing boards, trade certifications and national standardized tests like the ACT. No other civilian venue in Anchorage possesses the authorization, footprint or operational scope to absorb that workload. Closing UAA doesn’t shift that traffic elsewhere; it destroys the hub entirely.

When pressed on alternatives, the university points to automated online software and military facilities, but both fall apart under basic scrutiny. Automated proctoring like HonorLock relies on a myth of digital equity that Alaska’s infrastructure cannot support. In a state where broadband frequently stutters, a single Wi-Fi drop can void months of hard work. Additionally, invasive AI webcams present an insurmountable barrier for neurodivergent students or working adults in crowded households. Recommending the testing space at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson is equally flawed: JBER sits behind military security checkpoints. Public university infrastructure funded by Alaskan tax dollars should never require a visitor pass, background check or military sponsorship to access. Access to advancement should not be behind a locked gate.

The ripple effect reaches far beyond college classrooms and straight into our regional workforce. By eliminating our central testing anchor, we are stranding local nurses, teachers, contractors and ambitious young Alaskans in an administrative wasteland. Working Alaskans seeking career-advancing licenses now face the absurd prospect of spending thousands of dollars flying around the state—or worse, to the Lower 48—just to sit in a proctored room for a two-hour exam.

Alaska should be opening doors for its people, not slamming them shut on a Friday afternoon. Watching my son earn college credit showed me firsthand what happens when community infrastructure actually supports educational ambition. University leadership and local community partners must halt this closure immediately and establish an accessible, public-facing civilian alternative before the door locks Alaskans out for good.

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Members of the House Judiciary and State Affairs committees questioned Alaska Division of Elections director Carol Beecher on Wednesday about the state’s response to a U.S. Senate candidate with the same name as the incumbent — Dan Sullivan. It was the second investigatory hearing on the subject after elections officials failed to appear at an initial hearing in June. Alaska Lieutenant Governor Nancy Dahlstrom, who oversees the division, declined an invitation to appear.

At issue was the state’s decision to disqualify the U.S. Senate candidate Dan J. Sullivan of Petersburg and its determination that he was not a “good faith” candidate. The Alaska Supreme Court nixed that decision in late June.

Beecher testified for nearly two hours and defended the division’s actions from the choice to disqualify Sullivan to the choice to list him without a party affiliation on the primary ballot. She also answered questions about how 3,500 Alaskan residents received notices that they have inactive voter status pending verification of citizenship.

Since the first legislative hearing, the Sullivan from Petersburg challenged the state’s decision and the fast-tracked case reached the Alaska Supreme Court. The court upheld a lower court’s ruling that Sullivan was eligible and said the division did not have the authority to add additional eligibility requirements, like whether a candidate was acting in “good faith,” beyond what is outlined in the U.S. Constitution. 

Lawmakers raised concerns about how the division chose to list the candidates on the primary ballot. They asked Beecher about why the division chose to list the challenger as “Sullivan, Daniel J, Jr.” without his party affiliation as a registered Republican. It listed the incumbent senator as “Sullivan, Dan S.” and identified him as the incumbent and a Republican. 

The two Sullivans are among 16 candidates for the U.S. Senate seat, including Democratic former U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola, in the primary election on August 18. The top four vote-getters will advance to the general election on November 3. 

Beecher defended the division’s position that Sullivan was running with the purpose to confuse voters. She cited complaints filed by national and state Republican groups, Sullivan’s party affiliation as Republican and campaign materials as evidence of his intention to mimic the U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan and confuse Alaska voters.

“The division acted then to prevent manipulation of the ballot and to protect voters from purposeful confusion, consistent with its responsibility to maintain fair, neutral, and trustworthy elections,” she said. 

She noted that the division’s action was unprecedented, but said the situation merited such a response. “The division understood all along that this action could be challenged in court, and recognizes the court’s authority to review these important questions,” she said.

Judiciary committee chair Rep. Andrew Gray, D-Anchorage, had several questions about how the division determined Sullivan was not a “good faith” candidate. “Where is the evidence that he did this to trick voters, to mislead the voters whom we are here to protect?” he asked.

“The information that we were presented with painted for us a picture of someone who was trying to confuse the ballot,” Beecher replied. 

Gray probed the division’s criteria later in the hearing.“In your opinion, Director Beecher, what does it mean for a candidate to have a good faith intention to serve?” Gray asked.

“In my opinion, that it would be someone who actually wants to win, and is running because they want to to get the seat,” Beecher replied. “And in this situation, all of the facts that were presented to the division were that this was an individual who was not running to be what I would call a true candidate. This individual was running to confuse the ballot. It was an intentional attempt to gain access to the ballot for the purpose of confusing.”

Lawmakers also raised this issue of of how the candidate was listed on the primary ballot after the state Supreme Court ruling. The challenger was listed as “Daniel J. Sullivan, Jr.” when he has publicly stated he goes by his first name as “Dan.”

Beecher said it was a choice by the division. “And it’s a bit of first in time, first in place, that Dan Sullivan has already been on the ballot prior, as Dan Sullivan is known as Dan Sullivan,” she said, referring to the incumbent senator. “So it was simply a way to differentiate between the two.”

Rep. Genevieve Mina, D-Anchorage, asked Beecher about the division’s decision not to list Sullivan’s Republican party affiliation.

Beecher said she believes it was also within the division’s authority to do so. “Whether or not it has to be on the ballot, we believe that has been left to the discretion of the division, and in line with that, we made that determination,” she said. 

“It also could still be litigated,” Beecher added. 

Rep. Ashley Carrick, D-Fairbanks and chair of the House State Affairs Committee, said she was concerned about the precedent and the agency’s discretion to remove party information that could be informative for voters. 

“Having his party affiliation may help those voters feel like they’re more informed and directed to a candidate they would rather support,” she said. “But not having his affiliation included there seems to provide less information and be more confusing.”

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