Recall Grounds Found Factually and Legally Insufficient Resulting in Denial of Certification

November 4, 2019 (Juneau, AK) – There were sufficient qualifying signatures and the technical requirements of the recall statutes were met, but the Department of Law concluded the statement of grounds for recall was both factually and legally insufficient to meet the statutory grounds for recall. Based on the legal review from the Department of Law, the Division of Elections Director Gail Fenumiai denied certification of the application.

The recall application was submitted on September 5, 2019. Director Fenumiai requested that the Department of Law complete its legal review within 60 days, despite the lack of any statutory timeline to make a decision. The Department of Law met the requested timeline and submitted its opinion to the director on November 4, 2019.

Today, the director notified the sponsors that, based on the conclusions in the Attorney General Opinion, certification was denied. The sponsors, and any other interested party, have 30 days to challenge the denial of certification.

For more information, see the Division of Elections website at http://www.elections.alaska.gov/Core/petitionrecallstatus.php

The Attorney General’s Opinion can be found at http://law.alaska.gov/pdf/opinions/opinions_2019/19-007_2019200686.pdf

For questions on the Attorney General Opinion, please contact Assistant Attorney
General Maria Bahr at (907) 269-5100 or maria.bahr@alaska.gov.

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Media Contact: Gail Fenumiai, (907) 465-4611 Gail.Fenumiai@alaska.gov