1,900 Alaskans flagged as 'inactive non-citizen' can still vote Tuesday

About 1,900 Alaska voters head into Tuesday's primary still flagged on the state's rolls as "inactive non-citizen," and the Division of Elections says it won't clear those flags in bulk beforehand. The flag does not cancel a registration — those voters can restore active status by phone, email or mail, no documents required, and can still vote in the meantime.

Three routes remain open. Early and in-person absentee voting is under way through Tuesday; an absentee ballot can still be requested by fax or online until 5 pm Monday, though the mail-request deadline passed Aug. 8; or a voter can go to the polls Tuesday and ask for a questioned ballot.

"A questioned ballot is identical to the ballots all other voters will cast," Division Director Carol Beecher wrote — the difference being an envelope on which the voter declares, under penalty of perjury, that they are a citizen and otherwise qualified. Officials review those ballots before counting.

The division produced the flags by checking its roughly 580,000 voter records against state DMV data. After narrowing the matches, it mailed 3,058 people notices on June 30 marking them "inactive non-citizen" — about half a percent of registered voters. Six weeks on, more than 100 said they are not citizens and asked to be removed, about 685 affirmed citizenship and were reactivated, more than 350 letters bounced back undeliverable, and the remaining 1,900 have not responded.

Beecher, in an Aug. 6 letter to legislative leaders, said the division won't return everyone to active status automatically, and that many precinct registers are already printed, "making wholesale changes impractical at this stage."

The League of Women Voters of Alaska and others have challenged that process, suing Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom in April and arguing the state's list maintenance relies on "unreliable data sources" and deactivates voters "without the individualized investigation and notice required by law." A similar 2024 check flagged about 400 voters. The division has promised the 1,900 a follow-up notice, and has paused further DMV comparisons while it evaluates this round.