After two Southeast Alaska Republicans reversed themselves, the state Legislature on May 4 failed to override Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s veto of an elections reform bill intended to take effect this year.
Forty votes were needed to override the veto; the vote was 38-22, with Ketchikan Rep. Jeremy Bynum and Sitka Sen. Bert Stedman providing the critical votes to sustain the governor’s action.
Both represent Wrangell and both previously voted to pass Senate Bill 64 and send it to the governor.
After the joint session of House and Senate members to vote on the veto override, each said they did not believe state officials would be able to implement the bill in time for this year’s elections.
As written, the bill contained a swath of changes to state law, intended to make it easier for Alaskans to vote and also to improve the security of state elections.
Among the proposed modifications: Free postage for absentee ballots; a new system for absentee voters to track their ballots through the counting process; a 10-day period for absentee voters to fix problems that disqualified their ballots; updated procedures for auditing the state’s voter list to remove ineligible people; a requirement that the financial backers of ballot measures disclose their identities; and a special liaison intended to fix widespread voting problems in rural Alaska.
Dunleavy vetoed the bill on April 30. In his veto message to the Legislature, he wrote, “the Division of Elections warns such changes would be extremely difficult if not impossible, to implement securely and reliably in advance of the 2026 elections.”
Anchorage Sen. Bill Wielechowski supported the bill and the override. “I’m not prepared to tell Alaskans, ‘Sorry, it’ll have to wait another year. It’s just too hard.”
Bynum said afterward that he was swayed by statements from the Division of Elections, which said it was uncertain about its ability to implement the changes so quickly this year.
Bynum said another factor in his vote was the use of tribal IDs by voters at the polls. SB 64 would have mandated in state law that election workers accept tribal IDs. Bynum said that until the past week, he was unaware that tribal IDs could already be used as a matter of policy.
Stedman was one of the last legislators to vote. “I think they need more time to implement it. That was it, pretty much.”
The House voted 23-16 on March 23 to pass the bill. Two days later, the Senate voted 16-4 to approve the House’s changes and send the bill to Dunleavy.
The veto of SB 64 was Dunleavy’s 10th in the two-year legislative session.
The veto means a sixth consecutive year will pass without a significant update to the state’s election system. Bipartisan bills failed in 2022, 2024 and now 2026.
This year’s bill appeared to have the most likelihood of success — it was endorsed by Republican Reps. Sarah Vance, of Homer, and Kevin McCabe, of Big Lake, two of the most politically conservative members of the House, and it had support from House and Senate progressives.
The Alaska Federation of Natives issued a statement urging legislators to support a veto override, as did other groups.
But many Republicans opposed the changes because they want a more rigorous cull of the state’s voter list and oppose easier access to absentee voting.
Vance, speaking at the legislative joint session, said she received “threats” and “bullying” because of her support of the bill and an override.
After the vote, she said “there has been slander and an all-out assault to discredit and, frankly, lie to the people about what this bill does.”
Tok Sen. Mike Cronk was in favor of the override. “If I lose an election because a little old lady in Arctic Village had to cure her ballot and have that one ballot cost me my election, so be it,” he said. “Aren’t we here to make sure every vote counts?”
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