Daily Sitka Sentinel

Voter-PFD Sign-Up Tied In Alaska Petition Drive

By TOM HESSE

Sentinel Staff Writer

Organizers of a  statewide effort to tie voter registration to the Permanent Fund Dividend say the petition has gathered more than half the signatures needed to put the issue on the November 2016 ballot. 

The PFD Voter Registration ballot initiative group has been collecting signatures in Sitka and across the rest of Alaska for the past 10 weeks. On Monday it announced it has collected 16,000 of the 28,545 voter signatures needed to get the initiative on the ballot.

Local petition drive coordinator Zoe Kitchel. (Sentinel Photo)

Zoe Kitchel, one of those collecting signatures in Sitka, said the early efforts are going well.

“It’s been extremely positive,” she said. “What we found is that any hesitancy at first is just because people don’t know what it means or what it is.”

Proponents of the change say the initiative will save money, increase voter registration, and provide more secure controls against voter fraud.

John-Henry Heckendorn, one of the statewide organizers of the drive, said the proposed system would improve all aspects of the voter registration system by tying it to the PFD process, which is a proven success.

“We already have this great system in Alaska for registering for the permanent fund and this allows us to use that same model for another purpose,” Heckendorn said. 

The initiative emerged from a working group set up by Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott and modeled on a similar effort in Oregon that tied voter registration to drivers licences. Heckendorn said when it comes to fraud protection, efficiency and reach, the PFD system will be even better than the improvements made in Oregon. 

“If what they did in Oregon is like the Chevy of voter registration this is Cadillac,” he said. 

The change wouldn’t eliminate the current voter registration process nor would it make registration mandatory. But given the popularity of online PFD registration, it’s likely it would reduce the burden on the existing voter registration system. Studies by the Pew Foundation suggest online registration could save the state 10 percent on processing costs, and the Alaska Division of Elections says it could increase the number of registered voters by 70,000 in its first year. 

“People just like the idea of why fill out three or four government forms and just fill out one and have it be a better and smarter process,” Heckendorn said. 

Efforts to increase voter registration are typically met with concerns over voter fraud, and Heckendorn said that’s also addressed under the PFD system. 

“The PFD system has the most sophisticated fraud detection system there is; this actually reduces the potential for voter fraud,” Heckendorn said. “Every year there’s a newspaper article about that one person who got caught fraudulently trying to register for the PFD and those same protections would now extend to voter registration.” 

The initiative has been met with broad support across the state, and Kitchel said the support is equally large in Sitka.

Five people are in town to collect signatures, and Kitchel said they will be popping up all over town for the next month and a half. The goal is to collect signatures from a quarter of Sitka’s registered voters by the end of December. 

“I will be floating around the community,” Kitchel said. “Our team will be at a number of community events over the next month and a half. We’ll be at the PAC and at shows and we’ll be set up in SeaMart and Lakeside.”

Kitchel invites anyone who wants more information, or wants to sign a petition, to call her at 207-807-4426 or email zoe.j.kitchel@gmail.com. 

While supporters of the bill point to its cost savings and efficiencies, Heckendorn said the primary goal is still to increase voter registration and, hopefully, voter turnout. 

“If the ultimate goal is to increase voter registration, this effort doesn’t get you into the end zone, but it does get you 50 yards down field,” Heckendorn said. 

Studies show that increased registration does support increased turnout, Heckendorn said, and the benefits will be felt during election season when get-out-the-vote efforts begin. 

“Every election you have both sides spending a lot of money on getting people out to vote,” Heckendorn said. “A lot of those resources are being spent on getting people to fill out paperwork.” 

If registration is increased then the resources previously dedicated to cutting through red tape can instead be used to inform voters about the need to go to the polls, Heckendorn said.  

“Then you’re having a conversation about why they should get out and vote. Someone is going to spend money on turning people out either way, and now that money is spent much more efficiently.”