Republican Senator Mike Shower, Mat-Su Valley, introduced a new version of Senate Bill 39, which introduces blockchain technology and multi-factor authentication to ensure Alaska elections are more secure and to protect voter data.
Shower re-introduced SB 39 to the Senate State Affairs Committee, “Senate Bill 39 updates Alaska’s decades old election statute, strengthening voter access and improving integrity so Alaskans may regain confidence in our election system. We sometimes disagree with election results, but rarely in our history have we refused to accept them. A troubling trend has emerged where entire segments of our nation not only disagree with election results but refuse to acknowledge them as legitimate. It happened in 2016 and again in 2020. Whether these concerns are real or perceived, we must find a way to restore all people’s faith in our election system as it is a cornerstone to our constitutional republic.”
This new version of SB 39 introduces multi-factor authentication security for all registered voters and exempts those unable to use the technology. The authentication is an electronic method of verifying a user’s identity using two or more pieces of evidence. It also would require the Division of Elections to use blockchain technology to protect election data and to ensure that a personal information data breach, such as what happened in October 2020, doesn’t happen again.
SB 39 also would improve voter registration roll accuracy. Shower says, “Alaska checks only a few databases against eligible voter lists; SB39 enables the state to clean the voter rolls more often and cross-reference a broader segment of other available databases. It requires third-party supervised bi-annual audits of our voter rolls. Municipalities such as Anchorage use state data for their vote-by-mail system. It is self-evident that when the state’s data is not accurate, neither is their vote-by-mail system based upon the over mailing of ballots. There are thousands more people on our voter rolls than are eligible to vote in Alaska. Currently the Division of Elections checks our voter data with 31 other states. Why are we not running it by all 50 states?”
SB 39 would also require the Department of Elections to notify each absentee voter whose ballot has been rejected and provide an opportunity for the voter to fix any issues. Lastly, it would direct the DOE to adhere to the U.S. Postal Service’s existing ballot envelope barcode procedure.
The bill was set aside and will be heard in front of the Senate State Affairs Committee next week.
(Transcribed audio courtesy of KTOO 360 TV)