An Alaska tourist spot will vote whether to ban cruise ships on Saturdays to give locals a break

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Each year, a crush of tourists arrives in Alaska’s capital city on cruise ships to see wonders like the fast-diminishing Mendenhall Glacier. Now, long-simmering tensions over Juneau’s tourism boom are coming to a head over a new voter initiative aimed at giving residents a respite from the influx.

A measure that would ban cruise ships with 250 or more passengers from docking in Juneau on Saturdays qualified for the Oct. 1 municipal ballot, setting the stage for a debate about how much tourism is too much in a city that is experiencing first-hand the impacts of climate change. The measure would also ban ships on July 4, a day when locals flock to a downtown parade.

The “ship-free Saturdays” initiative that qualified this week will go to voters unless the local Assembly enacts a similar measure by Aug. 15, which is seen as unlikely.

Juneau, accessible only by water or air, is home to the Mendenhall Glacier, a major draw for the cruise passengers who arrive on multi-story ships towering over parts of the modest downtown skyline. Many residents of this city of about 32,000 have concerns about increased traffic, congested trails and the frequent buzz of sight-seeing helicopters transporting visitors to the Mendenhall and other glaciers.

Deborah Craig, who has lived in Juneau for decades, supports ship-free Saturdays. Craig, who lives across the channel from where the ships dock, often hears their early-morning fog horns and broadcast announcements made to passengers that are audible across the water.

The current “overwhelming" number of visitors diminishes what residents love so much about Juneau, she said.

“It’s about preserving the lifestyle that keeps us in Juneau, which is about clean air, clean water, pristine environment and easy access to trails, easy access to water sports and nature," she said of the initiative.

“There’s this perception that some people are not welcoming of tourists, and that’s not the case at all," Craig said. “It’s about volume. It’s about too much — too many in a short period of time overwhelming a small community.”

The current cruise season runs from early April to late October.

Opponents of the initiative say limiting dockings will hurt local businesses that rely heavily on tourism and could invite lawsuits. A voter-approved limit on cruise passenger numbers in Bar Harbor, Maine, another community with a significant tourism economy, was challenged in federal court.

Laura McDonnell, a business leader who owns Caribou Crossings, a gift shop in Juneau’s downtown tourist core, said she makes 98% of her annual revenue during the summer season.

Tourism is about all the "local businesses that rely on cruise passengers and our place in the community,” said McDonnell, who is involved in Protect Juneau’s Future, which opposes the initiative.

Some schools recently closed due to factors including declining enrollment, while the regional economy faces challenges, she said.

“I think that as a community, we really need to look at what’s at stake for our economy," she said. “We are not in a position to be shrinking our economy.”

The cruise industry accounted for $375 million in direct spending in Juneau in 2023, most of that attributable to spending by passengers, according to a report prepared for the city by McKinley Research Group LLC.

After a two-year pandemic lull, cruise passenger numbers rose sharply in Juneau, hitting a record of more than 1.6 million in 2023. Under this year's schedule, Sept. 21 will be the first day since early May with no large ships in town.

The tourism debate is polarizing, and the city has been trying to find a middle ground, said Alexandra Pierce, Juneau's visitor industry director. But she noted there also needs to be a regional solution.

If the Juneau initiative passes, it will impact other, smaller communities in southeast Alaska because the ships, generally on trips originating in Seattle or Vancouver, Canada, will have to go somewhere if they can’t dock in Juneau on Saturdays, she said.

Some residents in Sitka, south of Juneau, are in the early stages of trying to limit cruise visitation to that small, island community, which is near a volcano.

Juneau and major cruise lines, including Carnival Corp., Disney Cruise Line, Norwegian Cruise Line and Royal Caribbean Group, agreed to a limit of five large ships a day, which took effect this year. They more recently signed a pact, set to take effect in 2026, seeking a daily limit of 16,000 cruise passengers Sundays through Fridays and 12,000 on Saturdays.

Pierce said the overall goal is to keep total cruise passenger visitation around 1.6 million, and to even out daily numbers of visitors that can spike to about 18,000 on the busiest days. Peak days in the past have felt “a bit suffocating," she said. Juneau traditionally has been the most popular cruise port in the state.

A number of projects around Juneau are expected to help make existing cruise numbers feel less impactful. Those include plans for a gondola at the city-owned ski area and increased visitor capacity at the Mendenhall Glacier recreation area, she said.

Renée Limoge Reeve, vice president of government and community relations for the trade group Cruise Lines International Association Alaska, said the agreements signed with the city were the first of their kind in Alaska.

The best strategy is “ongoing, direct dialogue with local communities" and working together in a way that also provides a predictable source of income for local businesses, she said.

Protect Juneau's Future, led by local business leaders, said the success of the ballot measure would mean a loss of sales tax revenue and millions of dollars in direct spending by cruise passengers. The group was confident voters would reject the measure, its steering committee said in a statement.

Karla Hart, a sponsor of the initiative and frequent critic of the cruise industry, said the threat of litigation has kept communities from taking steps to limit cruise numbers in the past. She was heartened by legal wins this year in the ongoing fight over the measure passed in Bar Harbor, a popular destination near Maine's Acadia National Park.

She believes the Juneau initiative will pass.

“Every single person who is going to vote has a lived experience and knowledge of how the cruise industry impacts their lives,” she said.

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This story corrects a quote from Pierce about peak days.

FILE - A cruise ship departs from downtown Juneau, on June 7, 2023, along the Gastineau Channel, in Alaska. Voters in Alaska's capital city could decide in October whether to ban large cruise ships on Saturdays starting next year. (AP Photo/Becky Bohrer, File)

FILE - People gather near the base of Nugget Falls, a popular destination for selfies on June 13, 2023, at the Mendenhall Glacier Recreation Area, in Juneau, Alaska. Voters in Alaska's capital city could decide in October whether to ban large cruise ships on Saturdays starting next year. Supporters of the proposal say it would give residents a reprieve from the crush of tourists drawn to attractions like Juneau's fast-retreating Mendenhall Glacier, but opponents say it would hurt local businesses and invite lawsuits. (AP Photo/Becky Bohrer, File)

FILE - The face of the Mendenhall Glacier on Sunday, April 21, 2024, in Juneau, Alaska. Voters in Alaska's capital city could decide in October whether to ban large cruise ships on Saturdays starting next year. Supporters of the proposal say it would give residents a reprieve from the crush of tourists drawn to attractions like Juneau's fast-retreating Mendenhall Glacier, but opponents say it would hurt local businesses and invite lawsuits. (AP Photo/Becky Bohrer, File)

FILE - A group of people take in the views of the Mendenhall Glacier on June 8, 2023, in Juneau, Alaska. Voters in Alaska's capital city could decide in October whether to ban large cruise ships on Saturdays starting next year. Supporters of the proposal say it would give residents a reprieve from the crush of tourists drawn to attractions like Juneau's fast-retreating Mendenhall Glacier, but opponents say it would hurt local businesses and invite lawsuits. (AP Photo/Becky Bohrer, File)

FILE - Cruise ships are docked on June 9, 2023, in downtown Juneau, Alaska. Voters in Alaska's capital city could decide in October whether to ban large cruise ships on Saturdays starting next year. (AP Photo/Becky Bohrer, File)

FILE - Cruise ships are shown near downtown Juneau on June 7, 2023, along the Gastineau Channel, in Alaska. Voters in Alaska's capital city could decide in October whether to ban large cruise ships on Saturdays starting next year. (AP Photo/Becky Bohrer, File)

PHOENIX (AP) — Nearly 100,000 voters who haven't submitted citizenship documents might be prevented from participating in Arizona's state and local elections, a significant number for the battleground state where races have been tight.

The announcement Tuesday of an error in state-run databases that reclassified voters comes just four days before county election officials are required to mail ballots to uniformed and overseas voters.

Democratic Secretary of State Adrian Fontes said the error was resolved Tuesday morning, but the voter status of those caught up in it hasn't. Fontes and Stephen Richer, the Republican recorder for Maricopa County, disagree over whether the voters should have access to the full ballot or the ability to vote only in federal races.

Richer filed a special action Tuesday asking the state Supreme Court to settle the question.

“It is my position that these registrants have not satisfied Arizona’s documented proof of citizenship law, and therefore can only vote a ‘FED ONLY’ ballot,” Richer wrote on the social platform X.

Arizona is unique among states in that it requires voters to prove their citizenship to participate in local and state races. Those who haven’t but have sworn to it under the penalty of law are allowed to participate only in federal elections.

Arizona considers drivers’ licenses issued after October 1996 to be valid proof of citizenship. However, a system coding error marked more than 97,500 voters who obtained licenses before 1996 — roughly 2.5% of all registered voters — as full-ballot voters, state officials said.

While the error between the state’s voter registration database and the Motor Vehicle Division won’t impact the presidential race, that number of voters could tip the scales in hotly contested races in the state Legislature where Republicans have a slim majority in both chambers.

It also could affect ballot measures, including the constitutional right to abortion and criminalizing noncitizens for entering Arizona through Mexico at any location other than a port of entry.

Richer said his office discovered earlier this month that someone was classified as both a noncitizen and a full-ballot voter — in violation of state law. The person registered to vote in 2022 but has not cast a ballot in Arizona elections, Richer said.

The discrepancy led to a larger systemic issue with state databases, according to the court filing.

Fontes said the roughly 97,500 voters who were reclassified because of the error — more than half in Maricopa County — are longtime Arizonans and mostly Republicans who should be able to fully participate in the general election.

“This was discovered not because somebody was voting illegally and not because somebody was attempting to vote illegally as far as we can tell,” Fontes said at a Tuesday afternoon news conference. “And this was basic voter roll maintenance and it showed us that there is this issue.”

Richer said Fontes ignored state law by advising county election officials to let affected voters cast full ballots. Fontes said not allowing the voters who believed they had satisfied voting requirements access to the full ballot raises equal protection and due process concerns.

“I am unwilling to disenfranchise this many voters by limiting them suddenly, and with little notice, to a federal only ballot when none of them had notice of or blame for this issue,” Fontes wrote in a letter to county recorders.

Fontes said elections officials eventually will contact the voters but not until the high court settles their status. He said his office would set up an electronic portal where voters can submit citizenship documents, if needed.

Fontes and Richer agreed that the voters would be required to prove they are U.S. citizens to participate in state and local elections after the 2024 general election.

FILE - A voter casts their ballot at a secure ballot drop box at the Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Center in Phoenix, Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2022. (AP Photo/Matt York, File)

FILE - Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer speaks during a voting records trial Sept. 21, 2023, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, Pool, File)

FILE - Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes speaks at a campaign rally, Saturday, July 27, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri, File)