Alaska’s news organizations are collaborating on voter guides — and you can help, too

Ask your local candidates to fill out the survey from the Beacon, Daily News and public media

“I voted” stickers are seen on display in the headquarters offices of the Alaska Division of Elections in Juneau on Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. (Photo by James Brooks / Alaska Beacon)

By James Brooks

Alaska Beacon

Every election, Alaska’s candidates for public office are bombarded by questionnaires from politically active groups, individuals and members of the media.

To cut down on the workload and increase response rates, some of Alaska’s biggest statewide news organizations are trying something new — collaboration. 

The Alaska Beacon, Alaska Public Media, KTOO and the Anchorage Daily News are cooperating this year on a single questionnaire for candidates. We’ll use the answers to build a voter guide that will help Alaskans make an informed choice when they vote.

You can help by asking your candidates to answer our survey. 

The survey won’t replace debates, forums and public statements. Instead, it’s something extra, aimed at informing voters about what candidates believe and providing a tool to hold them accountable once elected.

The Beacon is coordinating the legislative questions, the Daily News is handling the questions for Alaska’s governor race, and Alaska Public Media and KTOO are managing the questionnaires for the candidates running for Alaska’s federal offices.

The questionnaires were the result of months of work. 

Each news organization solicited its readers, viewers and listeners, asking a basic question: What do you want candidates to talk about?

That’s what’s called the “citizens agenda” — we think that good election reporting is less about journalism that tries to determine “who’s ahead,” and more about what a candidate’s positions are and how they would affect things if elected.

In June, each news group combed through your responses and settled on draft lists of questions. The number of questions, any limits on length and the style of the questions were decided by the respective news organizations. 

We held meetings to decide the final lists of questions, and they have now been sent to state legislative candidates, governor candidates, candidates for the U.S. House and candidates for the U.S. Senate.

The deadline to respond is July 13. We’re now calling candidates to double-check that they’ve received the questionnaires and to remind them to respond.

You can help us with that. When you see a candidate, or if you know a candidate, ask them to fill out and return the questionnaire. 

This is how the Beacon presented its 2024 questionnaire results, and we expect to do something similar this year. The Daily News, KTOO and Alaska Public Media will share the questionnaire results as well. 

Here’s what we’re asking legislative candidates:

• What name do you go by? (For example, how should we refer to you in coverage?)

• Would you be willing to serve in a coalition majority where members of the other party are in leadership? Why or why not?

• What’s the biggest need in your district, and how would you address it?

• What should be done to improve public education in Alaska?

• How should the Legislature handle the Permanent Fund dividend?

• What does your ideal fiscal plan look like? How should the Legislature bring state expenses and revenue into line in the long term?

• When you look at the state budget, what’s the No. 1 thing you’d like to see cut or reduced, and what’s your No. 1 preferred way to raise new state revenue?

• What, if any, changes does the state need to make to its elections and voting system?

• What threats do you see facing Alaska in the next four years?

• What should legislators do to make Alaska a better place for children and families?

• As Alaska’s average age rises, what needs to be done to make the state a better place for older residents?

• What should Alaska do to keep residents and visitors safe from crime and disasters?

• What, if any, change would you make to state law to support the Alaskans who are dependent on fish harvests and the fishing industry?

• What do people not know about you that you think they should know?

• What should the Legislature do to help Alaskans with the high cost of living?

• How are the Trump administration’s policies working in Alaska? Where do you see them working well, and where do you see problems?

  
  

Here’s what we’re asking U.S. House candidates:

• What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

• Describe your most significant episode of public service.

• Do you support or oppose the work requirements for Medicaid and SNAP that Congress imposed in the 2025 budget reconciliation bill? What impact do you think they will have on Alaskans who rely on these programs?

• What specific changes, if any, would you make to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s authority, funding, or oversight?

• Do you like Alaska’s nonpartisan primary and ranked choice voting system? Why or why not?

• What do you think of Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom’s decision to send Alaskans’ voter data to the federal government?

• President Donald Trump has taken military action, launched construction projects and imposed tariffs without obtaining congressional consent first. What is your view of these types of unilateral White House action?

• Who do you believe was the rightful winner of the 2020 election?

• How would you work with Alaska Native Tribes and organizations to shape federal policy?

• What specific federal actions would you support to address environmental and climate-related risks facing Alaska communities, including coastal erosion, permafrost thaw, flooding, wildfires, landslides, ocean acidification and extreme storms?

• What policy changes or government actions would you support, if any, to improve ailing salmon runs in Alaska’s rivers?

• What major issue(s) facing Alaska do you think receives too little attention?

Complete the following sentences in 5-20 words.

• Abortion should be ____

• U.S. military aid to Israel should be ____

• U.S. military aid to Ukraine should be ___

• ____ would reduce the number of deaths from mass shootings.

  
  

Here’s the questions for the U.S. Senate candidates:

• ​​Do you like Alaska’s nonpartisan primary and ranked choice voting system? Why or why not?

• What do you think of Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom’s decision to send Alaskans’ voter data to the federal government?

• What, if anything, should Congress do to ensure the security of elections?

• Do you support or oppose granting federal permits for a road to connect the Ambler Mining District to the Dalton Highway?

• What policy changes or government actions would you support, if any, to improve ailing salmon runs in Alaska’s rivers?

• Do you believe that Donald Trump was the rightful winner of the 2020 election?

• Knowing what we know now, do you think that the Senate should have voted to convict Donald Trump during his second impeachment trial?

• Have any actions by the Trump administration raised legal or constitutional concerns for you? If so, which ones?

• Do you support or oppose the work requirements for Medicaid that Congress imposed in the 2025 budget reconciliation bill? What impact do you think they will have on Alaskans who rely on these programs?

Complete the following sentences in 5-20 words:

• Abortion should be ____

• U.S. military aid to Israel should be ____

• U.S. military aid to Ukraine should be ___

• ____ would reduce the number of deaths from mass shootings

Here’s what governor candidates are being asked:

• Gov. Mike Dunleavy is in the final year of his eight-year tenure. Name what you see as his most significant policy successes and challenges, and describe how you would have handled the policy challenges differently.

• How do you think the Permanent Fund dividend should be calculated?

• Do you support levying new taxes to afford larger annual Permanent Fund dividends? Why or why not?

• Should the state change the way it allocates funding to K-12 schools? Why or why not?

• Do you think Alaska’s overall state budget is too big, too small, or just right? Please explain why.

• What new revenue measures, if any, would you support implementing to balance the state budget?

• Some Alaska communities are increasingly susceptible to destructive storms and environmental changes. What steps do you think the state should take to support these communities?

• Alaska has experienced years of net outmigration. What is the most impactful step you, as governor, would take to reverse this trend?

• Alaska has some of the highest healthcare costs in the country. What do you think the state should do to make healthcare more affordable?

• What do you think the state should do to bring down the cost of energy for Alaska consumers?

• Do you think Alaska should change the way it manages its fisheries? If so, how? If not, why not?

• Federal law requires that rural Alaskans be given access to hunting and fishing in Alaska, while the Alaska Constitution forbids that kind of preference. How would your administration approach subsistence hunting and fishing rights?

• Alaska currently has no laws restricting or encouraging data centers. Would you favor changing that? If so, how? If not, why not?

• Do you support enshrining the Permanent Fund dividend in the state constitution?

• Do you think Alaska should spend more than it currently does on operating and maintaining K-12 schools?

• Do you support enacting a defined benefits pension system for Alaska’s public employees?

• Should privately held oil and gas companies pay Alaska’s corporate income tax?

• Do you support maintaining open primaries and ranked choice voting in Alaska?

• Do you believe Joe Biden won the presidential election in 2020?

• James Brooks Cascade is a longtime Alaska reporter who lives in Juneau. He previously worked at the Anchorage Daily News, Juneau Empire, Kodiak Mirror and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. Alaska Beacon is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.