A signature drive is underway for a ballot measure formally titled “An Act requiring that only United States citizens may be qualified to vote in Alaska elections,” often referred to by its sponsors as the United States Citizens Voter Act. Supporters say it would “clarify” that only U.S. citizens may vote in Alaska elections. That may sound harmless. But Alaskans should not sign this petition or vote for the measure if it reaches the ballot. The problem it claims to fix is imaginary, and its real intent has nothing to do with election integrity.

Alaska already requires voters to be U.S. citizens. Election officials enforce that rule. There is no bill in Juneau proposing to change it, no court case challenging it and no Alaska municipality contemplating noncitizen voting. Nothing in our election history or law suggests that the state’s citizenship requirement is under threat.

Which raises the real question: If there’s no problem to solve, what is this measure actually for?

The answer has everything to do with election politics. Across the Lower 48, “citizenship voting” drives have been used as turnout engines and list-building operations — reliable ways to galvanize conservative voters, recruit volunteers and gather contact data. These measures typically have no immediate policy impact, but the downstream political payoff is substantial.

Alaska’s effort fits neatly into that pattern. The petition is being circulated by Alaskans for Citizen Voting, whose leading advocates include former legislators John Coghill, Mike Chenault and Josh Revak. The group’s own financial disclaimer identifies a national organization, Americans for Citizen Voting, as its top contributor. The effort isn’t purely local. It is part of a coordinated national campaign.

To understand where this may be headed, look at what Americans for Citizen Voting is doing in other states. In Michigan, the group is backing a constitutional amendment far more sweeping than the petition: It would require documentary proof of citizenship for all voters, eliminate affidavit-based registration, tighten ID requirements even for absentee ballots, and require voter-roll purges tied to citizenship verification. In short, “citizen-only voting” is the opening move — the benign-sounding front door to a much broader effort to make voting more difficult for many eligible Americans.

Across the country, these initiatives rarely stand alone. They serve to establish the narrative that elections are lax or vulnerable, even when they are not. That narrative then becomes the justification for downstream restrictions: stricter ID laws, new documentation burdens for naturalized citizens, more aggressive voter-roll purges and — especially relevant here — new hurdles for absentee and mail-in voters.

In the 2024 general election, the Alaska Division of Elections received more than 55,000 absentee and absentee-equivalent ballots — about 16% of all ballots cast statewide. Many of those ballots came from rural and roadless communities, where as much as 90% of the population lacks road access and depends heavily on mail and air service. Absentee voting is not a convenience in these places; it is how democracy reaches Alaskans who live far from polling stations.

When a national organization that has supported absentee-voting restrictions elsewhere becomes the top financial backer of the petition, Alaskans should ask what comes next.

Supporters say the initiative is common sense. But laws don’t need “clarifying” when they are already explicit, already enforced and already uncontroversial. No one has produced evidence that noncitizen voting is a problem in an Alaska election. We simply don’t have a problem for this measure to solve.

What we do have are real challenges — education, public safety, energy policy, housing, fiscal stability. The petition addresses none of them. It is political theater, an Outside agenda wrapped in Alaska packaging.

If someone with a clipboard asks you to sign the Citizens Voter petition, say no. The problem is fictional, and the risks to our voting system are real. And if the measure makes the ballot, vote no.

Stan Jones is a former award-winning Alaska journalist and environmental advocate. He lives in Anchorage.

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ANCHORAGE, AK (Alaska’s News Source) – Overnight lows in Juneau have hit a two streak for breaking records!

Sunday tied the previous record lowest high temperature of 10 degrees set back in 1961, with clear skies and still abnormally cold temperatures to kick off Christmas week. Across the panhandle, clear and cold remains the trend but approaching Christmas Day, snow potential may return to close out the work week.

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In Western Alaska, Winter Storm Warnings are underway beginning as early as tonight for the Seward Peninsula. Between 5 to 10 inches of snow are forecasted across Norton Sound from Monday morning through midnight Monday as wind gusts build to 35 mph. In areas just slightly north, like Kotzebue, a Winter Storm Warning will remain in effect from Monday morning to Wednesday morning. Kotzebue and surrounding areas will brace for 6 to 12 inches of possible snow accumulation over the course of 3 mornings with gusts up to 40 miles per hour.

Southcentral could potentially see record low high temperatures for Monday as highs in Anchorage are forecasted in the negatives. Across the region, clear skies will stick around through Christmas with subsiding winds Monday morning.

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Interior Alaska is next up on the ‘changing forecast’ list as a Winter Storm Watch will be in effect Tuesday afternoon through Thursday morning. With this storm watch, forecasted potential of 5 to 10 inches of snow will coat the North Star Borough. For those in Fairbanks, 1 to 3 inches of snow will likely fall Tuesday night into Wednesday, just in time for Christmas Eve! Until then, mostly sunny skies will dominate the Interior with things looking just a bit cloudier past the Brooks Range. The North Slope will stay mostly cloudy to start the work week with some morning snow likely for Wainwright.

The Aleutian Chain is another overcast region with mostly cloudy skies and light rain for this holiday week. Sustained winds will range from 15 to 20 miles per hour with gusts up to 35 mph in Cold Bay.

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Alaska’s energy realm has been dominated by oil resources, but with the state awash in oil, Alaska is relying on another valuable resource. Buried beneath the layers of snow lies one of the most underestimated sources of clean power. Since Switzerland has set the tone of relying on solar power enhanced by snow itself, the country is offering some light on how snowy regions can depend on this valuable resource as well. With Alaska being filled with snow, the state could even become fossil fuel independent by relying on solar potential and its snow.

Swiss solar invention considering the strength of snow power

Switzerland has considered solar energy technology created for snow climates. Researchers as well as engineers have seen that solar panels in the Alps do benefit so much from the snow that their performance is improved. Shocking enough, solar panels perform well during the winter months when energy demand tends to be high.

The discovery of solar panels’ feat is because sunlight reflected off snow improves the radiation that reaches the panels. The best way this effect is reflected is through the AlpinSolar Project on the Muttsee Dam. The site can produce 3.3 GWh every year, which is rather similar to the energy generated by solar systems at low elevation levels. These alpine-based panels generate three times more electricity than installations in Switzerland’s lower regions, and this is mainly the case due to the snowy reflected layer.

It has been found that perhaps steep angles and panel spacing optimize sunlight absorption, as this placement enables snow to slide off panels easily whilst ensuring sunlight capture from reflective panels.

Alaska is looking at relying on the snow’s potential

According to research, the bifacial solar panels, which collect sunlight on both sides, can capture more reflected energy and show better solar output in comparison to traditional single-sided panels. This will be a great idea in Alaska, where snow cover exists for many months.

Tests conducted in Alaska were promising, and snow build-up on panels was effectively managed. Teams at the University of Alaska and Sandia National Laboratories created transparent ice- and snow-phobic coatings, where panels could shed snow and ice and improve solar energy production. In fact, energy production was improved by 85% during tests. While there is hope of solar success, the challenge seems far harder in Alaska in comparison to the Swiss Alps. With low sun angles being a reality in winter months, energy storage needs to be improved, should solar be a reliable clean energy source for Alaska.

Three lessons learnt from Switzerland that can be used in Alaska

Switzerland’s successes in alpine solar technology provide an incentive for Switzerland to tap into underrated clean energy sources, too. However, the lessons learnt in Switzerland can be used in Alaska as well:

• Installation design matters considerably: Steep panel angles and higher frames enable snow shedding while ensuring better reflection of surfaces.
• Adapted technologies, including bifacial panels and those with special coatings, optimize solar capture: In high latitude and snow conditions, such innovations tend to improve solar power capture.
• The solar system must be integrated with storage and grid systems: This ensures that solar becomes a strategic investment in places, like Alaska, where winter darkness seems to be apparent all year long.

If Alaska keeps these core solar lessons in mind, the state can tap into this form of renewable energy.

Alaska will be able to tap into its renewable energy potential

Alaska needs to consider the snow as an asset in its solar mission, as opposed to seeing snow as a foe to the renewable energy agenda. Alaska, like Switzerland, can move forward with this renewable energy resource. While Switzerland has been relying on this resource for a while with favorable results, Alaska, too, can embrace the snow. Soon, the Alps will be covered with solar panels with amazing results.