September 4, 2020
Senator
Bill Wielechowski
State Capitol, Rm 9
Juneau, AK 99801
800-550-2435
907-465-2435
1500 W Benson #315
Anchorage, AK 99503
907-269-0120
Contact My Staff
Sonja Kawasaki
Chief of Staff
Office: 907-465-2435
Nate Graham
Legislative Aide
Office: 907-269-0120
Erik Gunderson
Legislative Aide
Contact Alaska's Federal Delegation
Senator Lisa Murkowski
Phone: 907-271-3735
Senator Dan Sullivan
Phone: 907-271-5915
Representative Don Young
Phone: 907-271-5950
Contact the Governor
Governor Dunleavy's Anchorage office may be reached at 269-7450, or e-mail him at [email protected]
Visit the state website
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Dear Friends & Neighbors,
School has started back up, hunting season is beginning, and we have had our first big storm which means that the end of summer near. As we enter fall please take a moment to read through my latest newsletter.
Student Meal Pandemic Assistance for Eligible Families
The State of Alaska has partnered with the Food Bank of Alaska to implement "The Pandemic-Electronic Benefits Transfer Program" (Pandemic-EBT Program) aimed at helping families in need who've lost access to school lunches during the pandemic. This program provides qualified Alaskan families up to $458 per child to help cover the cost to put food on the table.
The program works like this:
- Children must have been enrolled last spring to receive free or reduced-cost school meals or have received free or reduced-cost school meals previously to qualify.
- Families already enrolled in food stamp or SNAP benefits will automatically receive these funds.
- Families not enrolled in the food stamps or SNAP program must apply to receive Pandemic-EBT.
The Division of Public Assistance has sent letters to 27,000 families that need to opt-in to receive these benefits. You are encouraged to apply by September 15th and can apply online HERE or by mail. The deadline to apply is September 30th.
With COVID-19, absentee by mail voting is a safe and secure alternative to in-person voting. For the recent August 18th primary elections, nearly 63,000 Alaskans requested absentee ballots and the Division of Elections received nearly 45,000 ballots back. For comparison, in the 2018 general election, the state received roughly 28,000 absentee ballots.
- Absentee-by-mail voting is safe, secure, and any registered Alaska voter can request an absentee ballot for any reason.
- Absentee ballots to overseas and military voters will be sent out September 17th (45 days before the election) and regular absentee ballots will be sent out October 9th (25 days before the election).
If you have any questions about how to request your absentee ballot or regarding voting this election cycle, my office would be happy to help.
Letter to Lt. Governor Kevin Meyer
On Friday August 28th I sent a letter to Lt. Gov Kevin Meyer requesting that the Division of Elections work with Municipality of Anchorage to place additional secure ballot drop boxes for the upcoming November general election. Alaska saw a record number of voters utilizing an absentee ballot in the August 18, primary election. This trend will likely continue into the fall as there have already been over 60,000 absentee ballot requests for the November 3, 2020 election. The Municipality of Anchorage has 18 drop boxes available that are used for municipal elections, and the municipality has offered them for use in the general election. My letter urged the Division of Elections to request their use. You can read the full letter HERE.
As always if you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact my office at 907-269-0120 or simply reply to this email.
Warmly,
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