HB 94 passed the Alaska House State Affairs committee on March 15. It sets up procedures for independent presidential candidates to get on the ballot (Alaska has never had such procedures).

Also, it changes the vote test for a party to remain on the ballot in gubernatorial election years. Currently, in gubernatorial years, the vote test requires that a party poll 3% for Governor. The bill would change this to let a party remain on if it polls 3% for any of these races: governor, US Senate, or US House.

HB 94 also changes the alternate registration test for a party to remain on, from 3% of the last vote cast, to 2% of the total number of registered voters. 3% of the last vote cast is 9,258; 2% of the number of registered voters is 9,479. The Green Party tried very hard to persuade the committee to set the registration test at 1%, not 2%, but did not succeed.

The only minor party that as many as 9,479 registrations is the Alaskan Independence Party, but the Libertarians are working to increase their registration to that level.