Letters to the editor

Published 2:30 am Friday, March 13, 2026

Voter data sharing raises serious concerns

Alaskans are fortunate to have a long history of secure elections. The Alaska Division of Elections, under lieutenant governors of both parties, has been a model of safety, security, and integrity. Rare instances of voter fraud in our state have been identified and prosecuted.

The League of Women Voters, nationally and here in Alaska, has long defended secure and trusted elections. That is why we must speak out about the decision in December 2025 to provide Alaska’s confidential voter registration data to the U.S. Department of Justice. The data released — including voters’ full names, dates of birth, residential addresses, and driver’s license or Social Security information — raises serious concerns under the Alaska Constitution’s right to privacy and under federal privacy protections. Courts in California, Michigan, and Oregon have already rejected similar DOJ lawsuits seeking un-redacted voter data based on current federal law.

The agreement signed by the Lt. Governor states that the DOJ will review Alaska’s voter rolls and return a list of voters it believes may be ineligible. In other states where federal databases have been used for this purpose, mistakes have occurred, and eligible voters have been incorrectly flagged. Even if voters are placed on inactive status rather than deleted, it means citizens may need to take time and effort to prove that they should remain on the voter rolls.

Cathleen Rolph

League of Women Voters of the Kenai Peninsula