Opinion ID: 1180991
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Attempt to Change Erroneous Address on Election Day.

Text: Mary E. Elliott filled out a voter registration application on October 5, 1978, but failed to supply her complete street address as required by AS 15.07.060. [12] On election day, Ms. Elliott filled out a second voter registration form. This time she included her complete address. Her ballot was not counted in the original canvass or the recount. Appellant Willis contends that her vote should have been counted because of an internal policy of the Division of Elections. Under the policy, corrections to minor defects in voter registration information are dated back to the date of original registration. It is Willis' theory that the supplying of the correct address on election day cured the defect in Ms. Elliott's October 5 registration and that Ms. Elliott was thus a qualified voter. Despite the Election Division's apparent internal policy, there are limits to the extent to which defects in registration can be ignored or cured after the fact. Alaska's election laws require that a person be properly registered in the district in which the vote is to be cast at least thirty days before the election. In Hammond v. Hickel , we strictly construed AS 15.07.090(a), requiring voters whose names are changed to re-register at least thirty days prior to the election if they desire to vote under their new names. 588 P.2d at 271. Votes of those who had not done so were held invalid. It is difficult to see how the omission of the voter's complete address can be considered a minor omission. Election officials could not have told from the information given what district or precinct Ms. Elliott should be voting in. This is obviously an important piece of information, which goes to the very purpose of the registration requirement. Nor does the failure to provide all essential information appear to have been the fault of election officials. The Lieutenant Governor properly ruled that Mary Elliott's ballot should not be counted.