News & Commentary

The ACLU of Alaska is urging the Alaska Vaccine Allocation Advisory Committee (AVAAC) to prioritize all incarcerated people in the Phase 1b of distribution and on equal terms with other congregate settings. Department of Corrections (DOC) staff who come into close contact with incarcerated people should be concurrently prioritized.

In a final judgment, the Alaska Superior Court has ordered the state to restore $334,700 in FY21 funding to the court system by the beginning of January. Governor Michael Dunleavy attacked the courts two years in row in retaliation for an Alaska Supreme Court ruling at odds with his personal views.

Alaskans, we join our fellow Americans in the 2020 waiting game. For the first time in a century, an election fell during a global pandemic, and a remarkable number of Alaskans made new voting plans to cast our ballots. While many of us are used to watching the results roll in live on television and Twitter, this year is different.

An Anchorage Superior Court has ruled that Governor Michael Dunleavy violated the Alaska Constitution when he vetoed $334,700 from the Alaska Court System twice for a Supreme Court ruling at odds with his personal beliefs.

Alaskans will not need a witness to sign their absentee ballots for the November general election because of COVID-19, the Alaska Supreme Court decided Monday. The state will be required to count unsigned ballots and to do voter outreach regarding the change.

Join us for a virtual screening of "RIGGED: The Voter Suppression Playbook" -- an award-winning documentary that exposes the nefarious tactics used to suppress the vote and serves to spark discussion on the actions needed to protect our democracy. Shot principally during the 2016 election, the film tracks a systematic, decade-long effort to reverse the impact of the growing demographic tide of non-white and younger voters who helped elect President Barack Obama in 2008. It details a variety of voter suppression “plays,” or tactics, ranging from the purging of voting rolls and passing of new, restrictive voter ID laws to gerrymandering and voter intimidation. It is narrated by Tony & Emmy award-winning actor, Jeffrey Wright.

An Alaska court has ruled that the witness requirement for absentee ballots is unconstitutional during the COVID-19 pandemic.  Parties in this case are working now to determine how the Election Division can alert voters about any subsequent changes.

Voting rights advocates filed a lawsuit today challenging an absentee ballot witness requirement that needlessly puts Alaskans at risk of COVID-19.The lawsuit was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Alaska, Native American Rights Fund, and Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.

The ACLU of Alaska, Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, and the Native American Rights Fund have called upon Alaska’s Lt. Governor to protect the health of Alaskans and the health of American democracy.