Ballot fiasco is the latest nightmare created by the 'Alaska Dream Team'
As one-half of the "Alaska Dream Team," Lt. Gov. Kevin Meyer doesn’t have a lot to do.
It’s by design. The lieutenant governor’s job description is a sparse one, with 11 specific tasks under state law.
One of his jobs is to watch the state seal and smile. Another is to appoint notaries and serve as a member of the historical commission and the workforce investment board. The only real job that comes with the office is supervising the Division of Elections.
It appears that Meyer was so busy watching notaries, the state seal and serving as a ceremonial leader that he forgot about doing his only real job.
Either Meyer wasn’t paying attention when the Division of Elections changed the ballot design in June or he was paying attention and he refused to inform the public about an important change. If he wasn’t paying attention, he failed. If he refused to inform the public, he failed.
Meyer created this mess by a lack of public disclosure. It could have been argued and dealt with months ago. It should have been dealt with months ago, not this week.
In June, the state secretly decided that nonpartisan candidates, such as U.S. House candidate Alyse Galvin, would not have their political affiliation included on the ballot, as it was in 2018.
The Alaska Supreme Court refused Friday to grant an injunction to Galvin, given the reality that the state has already had 800,000 ballots printed for the election and there is really no time to spare.
The new state plan, approved by the division, grew into a crisis only because the state did not deal with this in an upfront manner.
The ballot fiasco is the latest Dream Team nightmare. That the court refused to issue an order to stop the ballot distribution does not excuse Meyer’s abysmal performance.
State assistant Attorney General Margaret Paton-Walsh claimed in court Friday that “nonpartisan” is not a political affiliation in Alaska. Perhaps she really knows better. The instructions for filling out absentee ballots published by the state contradict her claim.
If elections director Gail Fenumiai made the changes without asking anyone, as the state claims, this is a serious blow to her reputation. But the ultimate responsibility rests with her boss—Meyer, who talked big in 2018 about restoring public trust in elections.
"I will take my responsibility for managing elections seriously," he claimed as a candidate.
Not seriously enough, as it turns out.
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