How You Can
Take Action
The League of Women Voters of Alaska advocates for issues that our members are passionate about.
- Increase School Funding (BSA)
- Selection of Judges
- Ranked Choice Voting
- National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (NPV)
- Election Reform
The League of Women Voters of Alaska believe our students are the future of Alaska.
Support a BSA increase. Find common ground and stop playing politics. Support the students and the schools.
Excerpt from the SPONSOR STATEMENT
“The State of Alaska is constitutionally obligated to provide a free public education to every child and young adult. Unfortunately, years of flat funding and rising inflation have degraded Alaska’s public education system, resulting in larger class sizes, closed schools, and fewer educational opportunities for children and families.
This is unacceptable and must be addressed by the Alaska State Legislature.”
We believe that the current process of selecting judges works!
We concur with this statement from retired Alaska Chief Justice Daniel Winfree:
“I recognize that some here don’t believe in an independent judiciary but rather believe that Alaska’s judges should be hand-picked and controlled by politicians so that the judges will render decisions that the politicians want. Our constitutional convention delegates were aware of that view and they expressly rejected it, along with rejecting the notion of elected judges and they did so in favor of the merit selection process we have in Alaska. The delegates wanted politics out of the judicial selection process all the way up to the governor’s constitutionally authorized appointment of a judge from the list of the most-qualified applicants provided by the Alaska Judicial Council.”
We support Ranked Choice Voting and open primaries.
The Benefits:
- Gives voters more meaningful choices: Allows candidates from outside the two major parties to compete.
- Eliminates spoilers and strategic voting: Allows voters to support their favorite candidate without worrying that they might “throw their vote away.”
- Reduces negative campaigning: Candidates must be less negative to appeal to a wider group of people or risk losing second or third place votes.
- Reduces the influence of money in politics: By making negative advertising less effective, ranked choice voting reduces the need for, and influence of, money in politics.
We support the use of the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (NPV) as one acceptable way to achieve the goal of the direct popular vote for election of the president until the abolition of the Electoral College is accomplished.
What is the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact?
The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (NPVIC) is an agreement among a group of US states and the District of Columbia to award all their electoral votes to whichever presidential ticket wins the overall popular vote in the 50 states + DC. This is achieved through passing the NPV bill in a state legislature and once done, the electoral votes in that state are added to the mix.
Free and Fair Elections are crucial to our democracy.
Support legislation to ensure that Alaska provides equal access to voting across the entire state. We support ballot curing – the ability to be notified if a ballot is rejected and the ability to fix it; we support removing the witness signature on mail in and absentee ballots as they serve no purpose; we support ways to ensure that Rural voters ballots are received on time and counted and not rejected due to postal or delivery errors.
Ranked Choice Voting
We support Ranked Choice Voting and open primaries.
The Benefits:
- Gives voters more meaningful choices: Allows candidates from outside the two major parties to compete.
- Eliminates spoilers and strategic voting: Allows voters to support their favorite candidate without worrying that they might “throw their vote away.”
- Reduces negative campaigning: Candidates must be less negative to appeal to a wider group of people or risk losing second or third place votes.
- Reduces the influence of money in politics: By making negative advertising less effective, ranked choice voting reduces the need for, and influence of, money in politics.
House Bill 4 and Senate Bill 2 seek to repeal Ranked Choice Voting and open primaries. We oppose House Bill 4 and Senate Bill 2.
National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (NPV)
We support the use of the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (NPV) as one acceptable way to achieve the goal of the direct popular vote for election of the president until the abolition of the Electoral College is accomplished.
What is the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact?
The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (NPVIC) is an agreement among a group of US states and the District of Columbia to award all their electoral votes to whichever presidential ticket wins the overall popular vote in the 50 states + DC. This is achieved through passing the NPV bill in a state legislature and once done, the electoral votes in that state are added to the mix.
Increase the Base Student Allocation
The League of Women Voters of Alaska believe our students are the future of Alaska.
Support a BSA increase. Find common ground and stop playing politics. Support the students and the schools.
Excerpt from the SPONSOR STATEMENT
“The State of Alaska is constitutionally obligated to provide a free public education to every child and young
adult. Unfortunately, years of flat funding and rising inflation have degraded Alaska’s public education system,
resulting in larger class sizes, closed schools, and fewer educational opportunities for children and families.
This is unacceptable and must be addressed by the Alaska State Legislature.”
Selection of Judges
We believe that the current process of selecting judges works!
We concur with this statement from retired Alaska Chief Justice Daniel Winfree:
“I recognize that some here don’t believe in an independent judiciary but rather believe that Alaska’s judges should be hand-picked and controlled by politicians so that the judges will render decisions that the politicians want. Our constitutional convention delegates were aware of that view and they expressly rejected it, along with rejecting the notion of elected judges and they did so in favor of the merit selection process we have in Alaska. The delegates wanted politics out of the judicial selection process all the way up to the governor’s constitutionally authorized appointment of a judge from the list of the most-qualified applicants provided by the Alaska Judicial Council.”
Become A Volunteer
Find your local league (or statewide as a Member-at-Large) and get involved!
We need all types of volunteers from all parts of Alaska.
Whether your interest is in legislation, local issues, voting rights, social media,
or you would be willing to “volunteer from home” writing letters — we need you!
Check out the information on the Local Leagues page today and join us.