House Judiciary Committee advances bill to allow voter preregistration at 16

The Alaska House Judiciary Committee voted by unanimous consent March 17 to advance House Bill 21, which would allow 16-year-olds to preregister to vote. Representative Andy Story, the bill sponsor, told the committee the measure is intended as a civics-education initiative to encourage earlier engagement in the voting process.

"I see it as a civics education bill," Representative Andy Story said, and described the measure as encouraging young people "to talk about the responsibility of voting and how our governance system works." Story said the bill would allow preregistration at age 16 and that the Division of Motor Vehicles option to preregister at the time of license issuance would remain available.

The bill will be referred to the House Finance Committee because it carries a fiscal note. Story and committee members described the procedural steps the Division of Elections would use: a 16-year-old who preregisters would be placed in a pending status, and approximately 90 days before the applicant's 18th birthday the division would mail a confirmation to verify residency; once confirmed, the voter would receive a voter card.

Mikaela Thompson, division operations manager for the Division of Elections, told the committee she did not have an exact count available of 17-year-olds currently preregistered but said "it is not a large amount of voters." The committee did not receive a numeric estimate during the hearing.

Vice Chair Kopp asked whether the bill changes identification or verification requirements. "It is not changing anything," Story replied. "Everything has to be verified and has to follow the requirements of being registering to vote."

With no objection recorded, the committee moved HB 21 from Judiciary to House Finance "with individual recommendations and attached fiscal notes." The motion was raised during the hearing; the clerk recorded no roll-call vote, and the committee advanced the bill by unanimous consent.

The committee had scheduled to hear House Bill 97 at the meeting but postponed that item because a committee substitute was not yet available. The committee also previewed upcoming hearings: March 19 (House Bill 118, Council on Human Trafficking; House Bill 6, state fund fiduciary duty) and March 21 (House Bill 74, counterfeit non-functioning airbags, and public testimony for House Bill 118).

The hearing convened and adjourned in the Gruenberg Room, Capitol Room 120.