Senate committee hears wide-ranging election reform bill; supporters back ballot curing and removing witness signature

Senate State Affairs Committee Chair Senator Gary Kawasaki convened a Jan. 30 hearing in Juneau on Senate Bill 64, a Rules Committee-sponsored, bipartisan package of election changes presented by Senator Chris Wilikowski and his staffer David Dunsmore. The bill, described by its sponsors as a comprehensive election reform package, would amend Alaska’s voter-registration rules, add ballot‑curing procedures, eliminate the witness‑signature requirement for absentee ballots and add multiple transparency and cybersecurity measures.

The bill matters because it touches basic procedures that affect how Alaskans register and cast ballots, and it contains measures aimed at both increasing access and tightening administrative processes. Supporters in the hearing and public testimony stressed rural access, ballot cure protections and removal of administrative barriers; some legislators raised questions about timelines, costs and security tradeoffs.

David Dunsmore, staff to Senator Wilikowski, summarized the bill in the committee: “Senate Bill 64 is a comprehensive election reform package that will help clean up Alaska’s voter rolls, remove barriers to voting, allow for faster and more transparent reporting of election results, ban the use of undisclosed deepfakes in Alaskan elections, and contain several other provisions to modernize Alaska’s election laws.” He told the panel the measure draws from bills introduced by Republican, Democratic and independent legislators and includes long‑discussed items such as ballot…