Democracy Update

It took just four months for democracy activists in Alaska to gather more than enough signatures for a ballot initiative that would automatically register Alaska citizens to vote as they sign up for the Permanent Fund Dividend. The PFD is paid annually to Alaska citizens, based on the state's oil revenue. PFD Voter Registration is projected to register as many as 70,000 Alaskans to vote in its first year, and also would fix out-of-date registration for tens of thousands more

The PFD Voter Registration ballot initiative group and Democracy Initiative supporters, including AFA-CWA Flight Attendants and other union activists, the NAACP, League of Women Voters, Our Alaska, Tanana Chiefs Conference and many others, gathered 42,540 petition signatures, far more than the 25,000 required to put the issue on the 2016 ballot.

The group delivered the boxes of signed petitions to the Division of Elections on Jan. 14.

Democracy activists in Alaska deliver more than 40,000 signed petitions to the state Division of Elections.