Clerk presents Election Code housekeeping and policy moves; Assembly refers ordinance for public hearing

Juneau City and Borough City Clerk staff briefed the Committee of the Whole on Feb. 24 about proposed amendments to Title 29 (election processes and procedures). The draft ordinance would move many operational details from code into an updated set of election policies and procedures maintained by the clerk, lengthen the advance publication period for those policies, and adjust candidate filing and withdrawal windows to provide clearer cure periods for nominating petitions.

Clerk staff said most changes are housekeeping: the language being removed from code will appear in a published policies-and-procedures binder and online. The ordinance would require the clerk to publish the policies and procedures on the city elections web page at least 40 days before election day (the ordinance text proposes 40 days; staff noted the assembly could set a different timeframe). The clerk said the change aims to increase transparency by giving candidates and voters earlier access to the rules the clerk will use in that election cycle.

On candidate filing timing, the ordinance moves the 10‑day filing window so it spans two five‑business‑day weeks (rather than the previous Friday‑to‑Monday pattern), which staff said would allow candidates extra business days to cure deficiencies found in nominating petitions. The clerk also proposed that initiative petitions be validated with the same practical standard used to accept votes — if the signer is a registered Juneau voter, the petition signature should be accepted unless clear evidence shows otherwise — to reduce rejected signatures when a petition circulator used informal address formats.

Committee action: an assemblymember moved the ordinance to the full assembly for a public hearing; the committee adopted that motion and scheduled the item for assembly public hearing and possible adoption on March 3 so any changes could become effective for the upcoming initiative period. Clerk staff noted adoption by March 3 would allow a 30‑day period necessary for changes to take effect before the initiative filing window opens in early April.

What assembly members asked and what remains open: members asked how the clerk would publish and notify the public about the rules online; the clerk said all materials will be posted on the elections web page and distributed via the office’s normal election communications. Members also asked about removing a “neutral summary” language block from ballot materials; clerk and city attorney staff said the proposed change prints the exact ballot question text on ballots and sample ballots rather than adding a clerk‑draft neutral summary. The assembly did not alter that policy during the committee meeting.

Ending: the ordinance moves to the March 3 assembly meeting for public hearing and possible adoption; the clerk will post draft policies and procedures online per the timeline the assembly sets.