Coastal Management Petition Still Being Reviewed

Jay Barrett/KMXT and The AP

There could be a bump in the road for the Coastal Management Program initiative that is currently undergoing certification in Juneau. At a news conference Tuesday morning Senate President Gary Stevens of Kodiak said there was apparently some trouble with the petition.

A computer analysis has found about 20,200 signers qualified to sign petitions to get a coastal zone ballot on the ballot this year. That’s below the necessary threshold, but the director of Alaska’s Division of Elections says the verification process is far from over.

Gail Fenumiai says signers among the roughly 11,500 signatures deemed unqualified by the computer aren’t necessarily disqualified. For example, she says a signer may have written Jim Smith, when his voter registration is James Smith. That means the state will do more research, in a process that could take up to four weeks.

She says this isn’t uncommon in the initiative process, citing one proposal that had a high number of unqualified signers after the computer analysis but that was ultimately validated by the state.

Stevens previously said if a legislative solution is to come about, it would have to originate in the House, and the Senate would be more than happy to consider it. He added that he wouldn’t mind going back to the bill the Senate approved last year.

Stevens said the Senate has not yet received a legal opinion on what would qualify as "substantially similar," allowing the Legislature to formulate a Coastal Management Program of its own, preempting the voter initiative.