The Kenai Peninsula Borough voted to appropriate funds and authorize the Borough Clerk to contract for necessary voting machines, software and related equipment to provide an accessible voting system for people with disabilities. The Americans with Disabilities Act requires a full and equal opportunity to vote for all eligible voters and an accessible voting system for people with disabilities.
A complaint was filed following the October 6, 2015 borough election with the Alaska State Commission for Human Rights alleging discrimination on the basis of a physical disability due to the borough allegedly not accommodating vision disability by providing an accessible voting machine. As part of a conciliation agreement into the Richard Malley v. Kenai Peninsula Borough case in 2018, the borough committed to adopting a voting system to provide private, independent voting by visually impaired citizens that complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Two companies responded to the Kenai Peninsula Borough’s request for quotes for an ADA compliant voting system, Dominion Voting Systems Inc. and Election Systems & Software, Inc. The Borough determined that Dominion was the superior choice to fulfill the borough’s needs, a move that didn’t sit well with everyone on the Kenai Peninsula who submitted comments opposing the decision, citing election integrity.
Assemblyman Bill Elam spoke on Ordinance 2020-19-24, “One of the consistent things that I saw is that the people did not want their voter data going out to the internet or being on a public network. We have two options in front of us here tonight. That is to go with Dominion or to not go with Dominion. We do have controls. We do have systems in place so that we do have an air gapped environment and our IT folks here did tell us that. One of the things that I would like to remind everybody about here tonight is that this particular election system that we’re working with tonight is for elections that relate to the assembly, to the mayor, to the school district, to the service area boards and then also to the local ballot measures. This does not, is not part of the U.S. Senate. This isn’t about the presidential election. This is only about the stuff that’s happening right here on the peninsula.”
The final vote on the ordinance was 8 yeas and 1 nay and, as a result, becomes effective upon enactment.