At tonight's Regular Assembly Meeting, the Anchorage Assembly authorized legal action to investigate the circumstances surrounding an April 11 election complaint by a vote of 9-3 with intent to strengthen Title 28 – Elections before the 2024 Regular Municipal Election.
“Time is of the essence," said Assembly Vice Chair Meg Zaletel after the meeting. “Every year, we work to make code changes that strengthen our elections laws ahead of the next regular election. We have a duty to understand what happened in this case to inform that process, and time is ticking."
An August 18 Final Investigative Report from the Municipal Ombudsman found evidence of collaboration between a mayoral appointee, Marc Dahl, Director of Information Technology at the Municipality of Anchorage, and Election Observer Sami Graham to subvert the electoral process during the 2023 Regular Municipal Election.
The Assembly held a worksession to discuss the findings of the Ombudsman's report on Friday, September 9. Although both Mr. Dahl and Ms. Graham were invited, neither were in attendance. At the worksession, Assembly Members reviewed five questions published by the Anchorage Daily News Editorial Board on August 26:
- Who was involved?
- What is the administration hiding?
- Why hasn't Mayor Bronson spoken about the incident?
- When will the administration take action on Dahl?
- Can Anchorage residents trust their government to do the right thing?
“Although they had weeks to prepare, the Administration did little at the worksession to provide the information that Assembly Members—and the public—have repeatedly requested," said Assembly Chair Christopher Constant during the meeting. “Assembly members compelled Assembly Leadership to produce legislation that could get us closer to the truth. We can't propose a solution if we don't understand the problem."
The resolution authorizes Assembly Counsel to subpoena documents and testimony, and, if needed, pursue litigation to compel the production of records related to the alleged election tampering case.
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