Ballot Review – Anchorage Municipal Election

About the Ballot Review

Background

​For more than 20 years the Anchorage League of Women Voters (ALWV) has produced a Ballot Review for the Anchorage municipal election.  In most of those years the League created the Ballot Review for the Municipality through a single source contract arrangement.  Recently, the Municipality required a competitive bid process.  This is the second year the League has been selected the competitive process to create, print and mail the Ballot Review.

The Ballot Review is mailed to every household within the Municipality.  The purpose of the Ballot Review is to provide voters with candidate information for mayor, assembly or school board, descriptions of bond propositions, special ballot propositions or charter amendments that require voter approval.

Preparation and Content

A small committee of ALWV volunteers work with municipal staff to prepare the Ballot Review.  Throughout the year, the committee members review each Assembly agenda for proposed bond propositions, ballot propositions, charter amendments, and propositions for service areas that require voter approval.  Using the documents presented and passed by the Assembly, the committee summarizes the key elements of each of the items and puts it into language that makes it understandable for voters.

In addition to providing information on items that require voter approval, the Ballot Review also contains information about candidates running for open seats.  The Municipal Clerk’s office provides a template for each candidate to voluntarily complete that includes biographical information to be published in the Ballot Review.  Not all candidates complete this form and thus, the Ballot Review indicates that no information was provided by the candidate.

The Ballot Review also includes information on how to vote at home, locations of secure drop boxes, hours and locations of the voting centers, bus routes to reach each of these locations and other general information on how to vote by mail.

Production and Distribution

The League works with a graphic designer to put all information into a pamphlet format.  Once the layout is complete, the final version is sent to the Clerk’s office for final approval.  The document is then sent to a printer who makes the copies and mails it out to all municipal households, which is normally around 120,000.  Copies are also provided to other locations such as the senior centers and the libraries.  Electronic copies are put on the Clerk’s website and Facebook page, it is sent to radio and TV stations, it is placed on the League’s website and Facebook page and is sent to all community councils.