Alaska’s appointed attorney general on Friday filed a friends of the court brief in a case before the U.S. Supreme Court involving whether absentee ballots that arrive after Election Day can be counted.

The filing does not side with either party in the case, which arose in Mississippi.

Instead, it informs the court of the logistical hurdles in Alaska — far-flung villages, lack of roads and severe weather — that make it difficult to receive absentee ballots by Election Day.

Alaska, like roughly half the other states in the U.S., allows some ballots cast by Election Day to be received later, the brief says.

The case, Watson v. Republican National Committee, challenges a law in Mississippi that allows absentee ballots received shortly after Election Day to count if they are postmarked by Election Day.

The Republican National Committee, the Mississippi Republican Party, the Libertarian Party of Mississippi and a Mississippi voter challenged the law in 2024. They argue that under federal law, ballots must received by state officials by Election Day to be counted.

The case could have national implications by influencing midterm elections, and comes amid baseless assertions from President Donald Trump that mail-in voting results in “MASSIVE VOTER FRAUD.”

The Alaska brief was filed by Jenna Lorence, the first Alaska solicitor general after Attorney General Stephen Cox created the role and appointed the Indiana attorney in October to fill it.

The 14-page brief says it does not support either party in the case.

The state’s impartiality drew criticism from an elections attorney, Scott Kendall, one of the main architects of the state’s ranked choice voting and open primary system.

“If you’re going to file something, take a position in favor of Alaska’s laws because they’re there for a very good reason,” Kendall said.

If the U.S. Supreme Court strikes down the law in Mississippi, that could lead to the disenfranchisement of many Alaska voters whose ballots arrive after Election Day, he said.

“Thousands upon thousands of Alaskans, through no fault of their own, wouldn’t be able to vote, and that’s not the democracy I signed up for,” Kendall said.

Under Alaska law, absentee ballots sent in state are counted if they are received “by the close of business on the 10th day after the election,” the filing says. Ballots from overseas must be received by the 15th day after the election.

Asked why the solicitor general did not take a position defending Alaska’s law or siding with either party, the Department of Law said in a statement emailed by spokesperson Sam Curtis:

“The State is committed to providing fair elections for Alaskans and will do so whatever rule the Court adopts. Alaska has previously filed these factual briefs to ensure courts understand the State’s unique perspective. Here, we wanted to ensure the Supreme Court knew how circumstances in Alaska make rules that might be simple in Mississippi more complicated in our State. We’re asking for clarity, so the Division of Elections and Alaska voters have straightforward rules to apply in the 2026 election.”

The filing notes that most Alaska communities are hard to reach.

“With over 80 percent of Alaskan communities off the road system, and extreme weather making access by boat or plane unreliable during certain months, including November, Alaska’s Division of Elections will continue to establish processes unlike any other State to ensure that its geography does not limit its citizens’ ability to vote,” the filing says. “Alaska asks that as this Court crafts a rule in this case, it provide clear parameters for Alaska to apply.”

The filing provides examples of how determining when a ballot was “received” by the Division of Elections is not always clearly defined, the Department of Law said.

In some cases, even in-person votes can struggle to reach the state elections division due to weather and geographical challenges, the filing says.

In 2024, poll workers in Atqasuk in northern Alaska tallied the votes cast on Election Day, but could not reach the elections division by phone that night.

So they “placed the ballots and tally sheets into a secure package and mailed them to the Division, who did not receive them until nine days later,” the filing says. “This exemplifies the hurdles that the Division regularly faces to receive and count votes from rural areas.”

The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals held that ballots must “be both cast by voters and received by state officials” by Election Day, the filing says.

“While that rule may invalidate laws like Mississippi’s delayed receipt deadline, what does it do in a situation like Atqasuk, where votes were cast and received by some poll workers on election day, but state officials did not receive the physical ballots or vote tallies until days later?” the filing says.

“Even more standardized voting situations in Alaska raise these questions,” the filing says.

“For example, when a voter casts an in-person absentee ballot in a remote area shortly before election day, the absentee voting official must send the ballot (in its unopened absentee ballot envelope) to the regional office, which may take some time,” the filing says. “Is the ballot ‘received’ the day it is turned over to the voting official? Or is it ‘received’ only once it reaches the regional office, where, for the first time, the Division evaluates eligibility before opening the envelope and counting the ballot within?”

“While it is clear when a ballot is ‘cast’ in Alaska (meaning that the vote cannot be changed), when certain ballots are actually ‘received’ is open to different interpretations, especially given the connectivity challenges for Alaska’s far-flung boroughs,” the filing says.

Alaska Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom, who oversees elections, said in a prepared statement that Alaska wants the Supreme Court “to provide clear guidance that protects election integrity while recognizing Alaska’s logistical challenges, so every eligible voter can make their voice heard.”

Cox said in the statement that Alaska wants the court to “consider how a rule that seems straightforward in some states might raise more questions in others. All we want is clarity in the rules.”

The filing also points out that for absentee ballots, many voters rely on the United States Postal Service.

“But unlike in other states, where mail delivery can be accomplished by simply driving to someone’s house via a continuous road system, USPS must use creative solutions to reach 82 percent of Alaskan communities,” the filing says.

In a separate matter, new guidelines from the U.S. Postal Service could also lead to votes not being counted across the U.S.

The postal service said on Dec. 24 it cannot guarantee that it will postmark ballots the same day they are put into a mailbox.

Two small avalanches released on a slide path of Mount Juneau, above the Behrends neighborhood, as Ezra Strong was on a walk this morning in the pouring rain. 

The city issued an evacuation advisory about an hour earlier for Juneau residents in all known slide paths downtown and along Thane Road. Strong and his wife live on Gruening Avenue with their dog. He said he’s not heeding the advisory.

“I think in part because we’re a little bit protected by a rock wall and some other things behind us, in part because we have seen slides come down before on the main slide path that didn’t even get close to us,” he said.

During an online press conference Friday morning, the City & Borough of Juneau’s new Avalanche Advisor John Bressette said that many small slides reduce the hazard by decreasing the amount of snow that could be released in a larger slide. 

“So it’s actually a good thing that we’re seeing smaller slides reducing the total snow load that is capable of producing an avalanche,” Bressette said. 

Some avalanches released above the Flume Trail today. The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities confirmed numerous small avalanches along Thane Road this morning. The agency expects more avalanches this evening since the forecast shows continued heavy rainfall, strong winds and warming temperatures. The closure of Thane Road could be extended multiple days. 

Some residents of the Behrends neighborhood have evacuated to friends’ houses or Centennial Hall, the official shelter set up by the city and the American Red Cross.

Carlos Cadiente lives kitty-corner from Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé in the Behrends slide path. He evacuated at around 11:30 a.m. in one vehicle while his wife drove behind in another. At a stop sign, he told KTOO they were headed to a friend’s house just down the street. 

“We already had a go bag going and we already had the cars loaded up and ready to roll, and so we’re rolling,” Cadiente said. 

He said this is the first time they’ve heeded an avalanche evacuation advisory in the decades they’ve lived here. 

“It’s kind of an extreme measure, you know, extreme weather that we’ve had,” he said. “So we’re just kind of trying to be proactive and not be a problem,” he said. 

Britt Tonnessen is the community disaster program manager for the Red Cross of Alaska in Southeast. In coordination with the city, the Red Cross set up an emergency shelter at Centennial Hall downtown for residents on Friday. 

At the shelter on Friday morning, she said the Red Cross has been preparing for the last week in case of an evacuation. 

“We’ve seen multiple fatal landslides and avalanches in the past decade,” she said. “Evacuating to a congregate shelter is not people’s dream idea. It’s a safe place to go. We do the best to meet the needs and we have incredible, loving, warm volunteers to meet people.”

Tonnessen said that anyone from avalanche zones, as well as those who feel the load on their roof is becoming too heavy, are welcome at the shelter. 

She said they are prepared to take 150 people, and around 30 people signed in by the early afternoon. 

Avalanche, weather and road conditions are expected to worsen this evening.

KTOO reporter Clarise Larson contributed to this report. 

• Ketchikan, Alaska is known as the “totem pole capital of the world” with over 80 poles.
• Totem poles are unique to the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest and represent family history, stories, and events.
• Many of Ketchikan’s oldest totem poles were moved from abandoned villages to the Totem Heritage Center for preservation.

KETCHIKAN, Alaska – An arched sign stretching between two city blocks welcomes travelers to “Alaska’s first city” and the “salmon capital of the world.” But Ketchikan, the first port on many Alaska cruises, has another nickname: the “totem pole capital of the world.” 

Totem poles are unique to the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest. The ones around Ketchikan are particularly old and numerous.  

“The history and the clans that own (the totem poles), like their animal clan crests, those are still living,” said Irene Dundas, Cultural Resources manager for the Ketchikan Indian Community. According to KIC’s website, its tribal citizens descend from Southeast Alaska’s three main Native peoples – Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian – as well as other Alaska Native tribal nations. “We’re not black-and-white photos … We still practice our culture every day, and we live it.”

“Travelers should know that there are spectacular and diverse Indigenous experiences and stories across every region of the United States, each unlike the other and each transcending generations to get to them,” said Sherry L. Rupert, who is Paiute and Washoe and CEO of the American Indigenous Tourism Association. 

Here’s what else visitors should know about Ketchikan, the “totem pole capital of the world.”  

Why it matters

“Totem poles are often used to show like family history, clan relationships, crest animals, stories, events, or to memorialize a specific person or event, like a battle or a visit by a dignitary, those types of things,” said Hazel Brewi, a visitor information assistant at the Southeast Alaska Discovery Center, an interagency visitors center for public lands across the state.