“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.” - Carol Beecher, director of the Alaska Division of Elections, said of the removal of 3,000 to 3,500 Alaskans from the state’s active voter list.
By James Brooks and Corinne Smith
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.
Brant fly over Izembek Lagoon at Izembek National Wildlife Refuge.on Sept. 28, 2016. The refuge is used as a migratory stop for nearly the entire global population of Pacific black brant. a type of goose. (Photo by Kristine Sowl/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)
By Yereth Rosen
Two weeks before construction is expected to begin on a controversial road that would cut through Izembek National Wildlife Refuge wetlands, three Western Alaska tribal governments and several environmental groups have filed new lawsuits seeking to block the project.
Both complaints, filed in U.S. District Court in Anchorage, are seeking to overturn a key permit issued earlier this month by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for a 19-mile road that would pass through what had previously been protected as designated wilderness within the refuge.
House Judiciary committee chair Rep. Andrew Gray, D-Anchorage, and committee members Rep. Ashley Carrick, D-Fairbanks and Rep. Mia Costello, R-Anchorage, listen to Carol Beecher, director of the Alaska Division of Elections, answer questions about the division’s decision to disqualify a U.S. Senate candidate at a hearing on July 22, 2026. (Photo by Kyle Johansen for Rep. Gray’s office)
By Corinne Smith
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.
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.
A student exits the University of Alaska Anchorage consortium library on Sept. 6, 2024. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
COMMENTARY
By Talyn Green
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.
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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Commentary: The real problem in Alaska schools: school boards | R. Brett Stirling
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