Division of Elections' decision to inactivate eligible Alaskan voters violates the National Voter Registration Act and the Voting Rights Act

Today, the American Civil Liberties Union of Alaska (ACLU AK), the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation (ACLU), and Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC, sent a Notice of Violation to Alaska Division of Elections (DOE) Director Carol Beecher and Lieutenant Governor Nancy Dahlstrom informing them that the voter list maintenance program it initiated on June 16, 2026 is unconstitutional and violates federal law. The Notice, sent on behalf of affected Alaskans and Alaskan organizations committed to protecting voter rights, seeks to ensure that all eligible voters can cast their ballot in the upcoming August primary and that those ballots will be counted.

According to a March 2026 memo from the Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV), the DOE sent the DMV a list of 15,200 license and identification applicants requesting that the DMV provide citizenship information. The DMV responded by providing a list of 3,048 individuals who may not be eligible voters. Elections Director Beecher, despite admitting that some of the DMV information may be outdated, nevertheless inactivated the voter registration of all Alaskans on the DMV list. The DOE sent impacted voters a letter dated June 16, 2026, requesting recipients confirm their citizenship status. The DOE failed to inform them that their voter registration was moved to inactive, the potential impacts or legal consequences of either responding or failing to respond to the letter, and that recipients would be required to vote a questioned ballot as an “inactive” voter if they were not restored to the active voter list before the upcoming primary election.

“Alaska’s elections are safe and secure, and there are many verifications and checks in place to ensure that only eligible Americans vote,” said Mara Kimmel, Executive Director for the ACLU of Alaska. “The letters that were sent to thousands of likely eligible Alaskan voters under the guise of election security are misleading, confusing, and run the risk of suppressing voter turnout. The impact of the state’s action violates its obligation to protect our fundamental right to vote and to ensure that all eligible voters can exercise that right.”

The Notice asserts that the DOE’s voter list maintenance program violates the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) because it occurred less than thirty days prior to the federal primary election. The Notice also asserts that the Division violated the Voting Rights Act to the extent that the DOE letter was sent only in English.

“On behalf of eligible voters throughout Alaska, we are calling on the Division of Elections to remedy its actions that potentially disenfranchised thousands of eligible voters based on flimsy information,” said Eric Glatt, Legal Director for the ACLU of Alaska. “Failure to do so violates the National Voter Registration Act and the Voting Rights Act”

The Notice requests that the Division of Elections take a variety of critical steps to protect the right to vote, including ensuring that impacted voters can cast a questioned ballot, committing to counting all of those ballots, and providing this information in languages that voters understand.

The Notice letter follows calls from a bipartisan group of 23 lawmakers who urged the Division last week to restore voting status for Alaskans whose voter registrations were changed based on flawed data.

The ACLU of Alaska has released guidance for letter recipients to confirm their voting status and citizenship so they can cast a ballot or a questioned ballot in the August 18 primary election.