Alaska Ballot Access Bill Introduced

On March 11, Alaska Representative Ivy Spohnholz (D-Anchorage) introduced HB 90. It eases the number of registrations needed for a group to be a qualified political party, to exactly 5,000. Currently the registration test is 3% of the last vote cast, which is now 8,358. The only qualified parties in Alaska currently are Republican, Democratic, and Alaskan Independence. Although the Alaskan Independence Party has many registered members, it did not have any nominees in 2018.

If HB 90 is signed into law, the Libertarian Party would regain its qualified status, and it would be easier for the Green Party to also regain its status, and for the Constitution Party to become qualified for the first time in Alaska.

New California Registration Data

On March 11, the California Secretary of State released the registration tally for February 20, 2019. This is the last tally in California until October 2019.

Percentages are: Democratic 43.11%; Republican 23.57%; American Independent 2.59%; Libertarian .77%; Green .44%; Peace & Freedom .384%; unknown .34%; unqualified parties .53%; independent 28.26%.

The last tally, for October 22, 2018, had these percentages: Democratic 43.45%; Republican 24.04%; American Independent 2.58%; Libertarian .76%; Green .45%; Peace & Freedom .380%; unknown .27%; unqualified parties .55%; independent 27.52%.

The Constitution Party, an unqualified party, declined from 290 registrants in October 2018, to 276 in February 2019.