Anchorage proposal would reduce required election notices and shorten post-certification livestreaming

Anchorage Assembly Members Donald Handeland and Sydney Scout of have proposed cutting the number of newspaper notices the city must publish before each election from two to one, in an ordinance set for introduction, or first reading, on Tuesday, Oct. 6. A public hearing is scheduled for Nov. 4. Under the proposal, the municipal clerk could still publish more notices. The sponsors say the two-notice requirement has been in place since unification in 1975.

The proposal is part of an omnibus update to Title 28, the city's election code, which bundles many changes into one ordinance. The Municipal Clerk's Office drafted it during its annual review of the code.

The sponsors' memorandum says a typical two-page newspaper ad purchase costs about $15,000. It calls the requirement "unnecessary, a needless expense, and of questionable efficacy." City code also requires notices to be posted on the city's website and allows social media posts. The proposal would keep the first notice's deadlines of 51 days before a regular election, 30 before a special election and 15 before a runoff, and would drop the requirement for a second notice, currently due by the day before the election. State law generally requires at least 20 days' notice of an election.

The proposal would also allow the Election Center's required livestream to end when the election is first certified, instead of continuing for nine more days. The sponsors say the Assembly overlooked the livestream rule when it moved the deadline for election contests earlier in 2023. The proposal would still require livestreaming during any recount, until the recount results are certified. The sponsors say the change would protect the privacy and safety of election workers once ballots are no longer being handled or processed.

Other changes in the proposal would let only municipal residents challenge a candidate's qualifications, make assigning an election official as observer liaison optional, and let election staff compare signatures on ballot-return envelopes with signatures on forms the clerk already has on file, in addition to state voter registration records. It would also hold the Election Commission to the ballot-review standards already in the election code, and require the Assembly to consider certifying the results of any recount completed before the initial certification before winners take the oath of office. The clerk says total savings are unlikely to exceed $30,000. The ordinance, AO 2026-131, says its final version is scheduled to be discussed with the Assembly Governance Committee on Oct. 8.

A separate ordinance, AO 2026-129, from Handeland and Assembly Member Jared Goecker, would require candidates for municipal office to file nominating petitions with their declarations of candidacy.