Alaska Court Rules Against Illegal Voting Charges | Anchorage News

0:00It's September 5th. This is Anchorage News Today, driven by AI. The Alaska Court of Appeals just dropped a ruling that could shake up a bunch of illegal voting cases. They found that state prosecutors basically misled grand jurors when they indicted a Whittier resident to base myth on charges of voting illegally. The court basically said, if the jurors had gotten the real facts, they probably wouldn't have indicted her in the first place. This whole situation involves 11 people, all from American Samoa, who the state accused of breaking voting laws. Smith was one of them, and she fought back, but a lower court said no. Now this appeals court has reversed that, and they've also laid down a pretty high bar for prosecutors trying to convict someone of illegal voting in. Alaska Smith herself said this whole process has been tough on her and her family, and she feels vindicated by this decision. Because she's still worried, the state might keep targeting her community. The Department of Law is reviewing the ruling and figuring out their next steps, which

1:00could even mean an appeal to the Alaska Supreme Court. The big deal here is that if this ruling sticks, it could impact the cases of the other 10 people from Whittier, who are also facing these charges. It also sets a precedent for any future non-citizen voting cases. Remember, people born in American Samoa are Americans, but not US citizens, so they can't vote in Alaska. The court's decision hinges on the difference between intentionally and knowingly when it comes to voter misconduct. Prosecutors argue they meant the same thing, but the appeals court disagreed, saying, intentionally means you know you're doing something wrong, not. Just that you're doing it. This distinction is crucial, especially since some non-citizens have been accidentally registered to vote through DMB errors.