Alaska Voters’ Privacy: A Big Question

The state of Alaska has long been known for its reliable elections, with both parties’ leaders keeping the process safe and honest. Yet recent events have shaken that trust. In December 2025, the lieutenant governor gave the federal Department of Justice access to private voter data—names, birth dates, addresses and parts of driver’s license or Social Security numbers. This move breaches Alaska’s own constitution, the federal Privacy Act of 1974 and basic constitutional principles that keep elections under state control. The claim behind the data request is simple: to spot illegal votes from non‑citizens. In reality, such fraud in Alaska and nationwide is extremely rare. The Department of Justice promised to check the rolls, return a list of suspicious voters and then have those names removed from Alaska’s voter database. However, the lieutenant governor has said she will only mark them inactive instead of deleting them outright. If a voter ends up on that list, it becomes the voter’s burden to prove they should stay active.Other states that used a federal database for this purpose have made mistakes, forcing citizens to fight to keep their names on the rolls. In Alaska, no clear guarantees were made about how the sensitive data would be protected once it was in federal hands. Questions arise: why did Alaska’s top official agree to this when other states resisted? Who will actually see these files? How will they be kept safe from hackers or misuse? And how many honest voters might find themselves wrongly flagged? The public deserves answers. The League of Women Voters in Alaska has called for transparency and accountability, urging the state to explain its actions and protect voters’ privacy.