Section 6 AAC 25.590 - By-mail election(a) If the director determines that an election will be conducted by mail under AS 15.20.800, the order and notice of election calling for the election will state that the election is to be conducted by mail and that there will be no polling place open for regular in-person voting on election day. In a by-mail election, election day will be the date designated by the director as the deadline by which a voter's ballot must be voted, witnessed, mailed, and, if postmarked, date-stamped by the post office.(b) In each election conducted by mail, the election supervisor shall appoint at least one absentee voting official to serve the jurisdiction in which the election is to be held. At the discretion of the election supervisor, appointments may be made of persons to serve within each precinct or community within the jurisdiction, or in the general geographic area immediately contiguous to the jurisdiction. Each absentee voting official shall be available at least 15 days before the election, at the hours and location specified by the election supervisor. Each absentee voting official shall be available to (1) provide absentee voting in person, as prescribed in AS 15.20.061, and absentee voting through a personal representative as prescribed in AS 15.20.071;(2) sign a voter's by-mail oath and affidavit envelope as an authorized attesting official, except that the official may not attest his or her own ballot;(3) accept receipt of a by-mail voter's hand-delivered voted ballot, which has been sworn to, attested, and sealed in the by-mail return envelope; and(4) provide general voter assistance.(c) The director will give public notice of a by-mail election in accordance with AS 15.15.070. The director may select a manner reasonably calculated to give actual knowledge of the election to the voters. The notice shall be given by publication at least twice in a newspaper of general circulation in the area where the election will be held. If there is no paper of general circulation in the area where the election will be held, then a notice will be mailed to each registered voter in the jurisdiction. The newspaper and mailed notice must specifically include (1) the date of election;(2) disclosure that the election will be conducted by mail and that no polling place will be available for regular in person voting on election day;(3) designation of the office to which candidates are to be nominated or elected, and a statement of the subject of the propositions and questions that are to appear on the ballot;(4) designation of the date on which ballots are expected to be mailed to voters;(5) instructions to voters who will not be at their current mailing addresses when the ballots are to be mailed, or who do not receive their ballot through the mail;(6) a listing of appointed absentee voting officials, their office hours, and locations of their offices; and(7) a statement of when the ballot may be voted.(e) Specific instructions for voting a by-mail ballot will be mailed to each voter with the ballot.Eff. 8/12/90, Register 115; am 8/13/2000, Register 155; am 8/23/2001, Register 159; am 5/11/2012, Register 202Before Register 115, October 1990, the substance of 6 AAC 25.590 appeared in 6 AAC 25.250.
Authority:AS 15.07.070
AS 15.15.010
AS 15.20.061
AS 15.20.072
AS 15.20.081
AS 15.20.082
AS 15.20.800