Ballot curing should not be controversial. It gives a voter the chance to fix a minor mistake on the outside of an absentee ballot so their vote is not thrown out over a technicality.

This is not about changing votes, adding ballots, or weakening election law. It’s about correcting a narrow set of problems such as a missing signature, incomplete information, or another fixable issue on the envelope. The ballot inside stays sealed and untouched by anyone. Election officials notify the voter, who then has a defined time window to respond with a signature, identification, or affidavit on a form provided by the Division of Elections.

Alaska has needed this in statute for years. Instead, we have operated in a gray area, relying on vague Division internal guidance that says officials “may” contact voters in limited circumstances. Courts have ruled that without legislative direction, there is no requirement to offer a fix. In other words, whether a lawful ballot counts, or not, has too often depended on internal procedure and administrative discretion without clear statutory guidance. That is not how election law should work.

The numbers alone ought to get people’s attention. In the 2024 general election, 1,303 absentee ballots were rejected, about 1.7 percent. In the 2022 special primary, rejection rates reached nearly 4.5 percent statewide and climbed as high as 14 percent in some rural districts. Many of those were not bad ballots. They were lawful ballots with paperwork mistakes on the envelope. Two of the hardest-hit districts in 2024 leaned conservative, including a military-heavy area and parts of the Mat-Su. In the last cycle, approximately 735 ballots likely could have been cured with a straightforward process. This is almost exactly the number of absentee votes by which the RCV repeal initiative failed.

That should concern anyone who is serious about fair elections. Election integrity means knowing the difference between fraud and a fixable paperwork error. Those are not the same thing. Voters, especially military and overseas Alaskans, deserve to know whether their ballot was counted, and if there is a correctable problem, they should have a limited opportunity to fix it.

SB 64 addresses exactly that. The bill, which passed the House on March 24, 2026, creates a clear, narrow, and secure ballot-curing process. Voters receive notice and a limited window to verify their identity with a signature and ID. The ballot itself remains sealed. Any claim that the ballot was not cast by the voter triggers an investigation. Paired with ballot tracking, stronger voter-roll maintenance, and other election integrity measures, it makes the system more reliable without lowering standards.

Alaska would not be doing anything unusual here. More than 30 states already have formal curing procedures. Conservative-led states like Florida and Arizona already allow voters to fix signature issues while still enforcing strong election laws overall. They prove you can protect lawful voters and maintain serious election safeguards at the same time.

This should not be a partisan fight. It should be about respecting every eligible Alaskan who takes the time to exersize their most valuable American right. As we head into the 2026 vote on repealing ranked-choice voting, the last thing Alaska voters should tolerate is a system that discards lawful ballots over avoidable clerical errors. We can and should repeal ranked-choice voting. But whatever side someone is on in that debate, the underlying election system ought to be solid, transparent, and worthy of our trust.

Ballot curing is a practical, limited, and long overdue reform. Passing SB 64 into law means fewer lost votes, clearer rules, stronger voter confidence, and an election system that works the way it is supposed to.

Originally published on Substack: https://kevinjmccabe.substack.com/p/what-is-ballot-curing