On August 20, Alaska held its top-four primary. The only statewide race on the ballot was U.S. House, where neither of the minor party candidates placed in the top four, although the Alaskan Independence Party candidate placed fifth and could conceivably qualify once all the votes are counted. The other minor party candidate in that race was Richard Grayson, running with the “No Labels” label.
In the state legislative races, only one race had more than four candidates running, so except in that one race (the 36th House race), no one was excluded from the general election ballot.
Scott Kohlhaas, long-time Libertarian activist, running for State House, 20th district, in a two-person race against a Democrat. Kohlhaas polled 32.5%.
So now 3 Republicans will be fighting each other and cannibalize the GOP’s funds for the race. Seriously, Alaska needs to add a “one per party” rule to their top four system. The bottom two Republicans should be dropped automatically and the rounds started over.
Parties in Alaska should remain the right to determine which candidates may, or may not, run with their label. It’s logical corollary of the principle of associational rights established in Eu v San Francisco.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/08/21/mary-peltola-alaska-house-primary-congress/74886318007/
UT STORY
They should have a standing count.
These results show how irrelevant candidates who are not Democrats or Republicans are in American elections. The four Republican candidates and the two Democratic candidates have about 98.7% of the vote while the other six candidates share 1.3%.
It’s a wonder all you ballot access fanatics don’t commit suicide when you are confronted
with the reality of the utter irrelevance of nearly everything on this fantasyland website.
Trump is the only one who can save us.
“Lady Donna Dutchess”
Ma’am, that’s not how you spell “duchess” and this is a house race not a horse race.
@The Uniparty’s Imaginary World
You are confusing relevance with popularity. But good and evil will always be more relevant than what is popular and what isn’t.
The Alaska Independence Party, not the Republicans or Democrats, is the only Alaskan party worth a damn.
Speaking of which, how did Terry get ballot access in Alaska? Via the Independence Party? As an independent? Because Alaska’s Constitution Party committed suicide and disaffiliated from the national years ago, if memory serves me well.
@Nuña,
Alaska has what is termed a “Limited Party” which has ballot access for President only. It requires a petition of 3614 signatures (1% of last presidential vote). There are currently three limited parties: Aurora, Constitution, and No Labels. A limited party may maintain its status with a 3% showing.
In all other partisan races a candidate may use his affiliation with either a qualified party or a “political body”. Being a political party only requires a piece of paper, and the state will track registration.
Current Political Bodies are:
Veterans 1545
Green 1521
Alaska Constitution 792
Moderate 398
Progressive 260
Patriot’s 217
UCES’ Clowns 215
OWL 103
Alliance 75
FreedomReform 9
Aurora 5
Dutchess is the correct spelling.
@Jim Riley
Yeah, the Alaska Constitution Party pulled an Idaho CP. That’s what I meant by “suicide”: they are still around, but have become a “Constitution Party” in name only and have lost most of what relevance they ever had.
OWL? As in Washington’s “Out With Logic, On With Lunacy” Party, we talked about previously? I thought they were a former party (in the loose sense) exclusively in Washington state.
@Downton Abbey Fan
Not really, no. “Dutchess” is one of the those English innovations which, despite being called “archaic spelling”, are in fact more recent than the contemporary spelling “duchess”. Sort of like how British English turned “-or” into “-our” to appear more French, while American English kept the actual old spelling. Except in this case “dutchess” is actually trying to move away from French “duchesse”. Thus, if we want to be historical about it, the correct spelling would be “duchesse” as in Middle English and in Old, Middle and Modern French.
Real World is right. No amount of twisting changes is.
@Nuña,
Washington has quite a bit of influence on Alaska. They adopted the blanket primary while still a territory (Washington had introduced it around 1930). They adopted Top 4 (party agnostic primary) after Washington did.
The Constitution Party apparently had enough organization to qualify with a petition.
My dictionary says dutchess.
@Nuña,
Registration with the Constitution Party has increased every year since 2011 when they were first recognized as a political body.
Since 2017, Alaska has had Automatic Voter Registration (AVR) tied to the Permanent Fund Dividend. That is, if you apply for the PFD or update your residence address (PFD is only paid to full-year residents), you will be automatically registered, unless you opt out.
The potential new voter/updated address is sent a notice, which the person may return if they want to opt out. In addition, the person may return the card if they want to select a party. Alaska recognizes a difference between “Undeclared” where a voter has not stated an affiliation, and “Nonpartisan” where a voter has affirmatively indicated that they don’t want to be affiliated with any party. Over time, Undeclared has grown from 32% in 1996 to 45% in 2024. Nonpartisan has declined from 22% to 14%.
It appears that most of the affiliation with political bodies is coming from AVR voters who ticked a box on a form [ ] OWL, [ ] UCES Clowns, [ ] Moderate, etc.
Persons who received the form, may have misunderstood the instructions. Perhaps they read “may choose a party”, with “choose a party” and decided to rebel against “compelled” affiliation. It is hard to tell if those who choose “Constitution” are doing so because of an understanding of the platform, or it just sounds good. The Green Party has stabilized, so you are seeing voters who are in favor of trees registering rather than Jill Stein supporters. Green Party registration is about 1/3 of its peak after the 2000 Nader election.
Alaska also tracks whether new AVR voters actually vote. About 30% of those registered before 2020 have actually voted. For those registered since 2021, it is about 10%, though they have not had an opportunity to vote in a presidential election. Someone who moved to Alaska in 2020 and had a bit of interest in the election would have registered due to their own volition. If they subsequently applied for a PFD based on 2021 residency they would already have been registered. It will only be the most politically indifferent who get caught by AVR.
There may also be correlation with demographic factors. PFD may be paid to children who have a sponsor (likely a parent or guardian), but they probably have to file on their own behalf when they reach age 18. If you are still living with Mom and Dad, you still can move out at any time. Younger adults are less likely to vote. People who have recently moved to Alaska are less likely to have a real connection to the community that would lead them to vote. People who move around a lot, may be do as they change jobs, or change living arrangements (whether divorced, or informal couples, etc.)
In 2022, turnout was
Rep 55%, NonP 54%, Dem 53%
Green 40%, AInd 39%, Lbt 34%, Undec 34%
Con 27%, OWL 25%, UCESC 25%, Vet 25%
This suggests Constitution voters just checked a box.
Turnout is higher for those where there was some attempt to have a party.
Turnout is highest among R/D and those who are deliberately independent (and decidedly older)
Mine says dutchess is archaic.