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SENATE BILL NO. 179
IN THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA
THIRTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE - FIRST SESSION
BY THE SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE
Introduced: 4/22/25
Referred: State Affairs, Community and Regional Affairs
A BILL
FOR AN ACT ENTITLED
"An Act relating to ranked-choice voting; and reducing the number of candidates in a 1
general election from four to three." 2
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 3
* Section 1. AS 15.15.030 is amended to read: 4
Sec. 15.15.030. Preparation of official ballot. The director shall prepare all 5
official ballots to facilitate fairness, simplicity, and clarity in the voting procedure, to 6
reflect most accurately the intent of the voter, and to expedite the administration of 7
elections. The following directives shall be followed when applicable: 8
(1) The director shall determine the size of the ballot, the type of print, 9
necessary additional instruction notes to voters, and other similar matters of form not 10
provided by law. 11
(2) The director shall number ballots in series to ensure simplicity and 12
secrecy and to prevent fraud. 13
(3) The director shall contract for the preparation of ballots under 14 34-LS0767\A
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AS 36.30 (State Procurement Code). 1
(4) The director may not include on the ballot, as a part of a candidate's 2
name, any honorary or assumed title or prefix but may include in the candidate's name 3
any nickname or familiar form of a proper name of the candidate. 4
(5) The names of the candidates shall be placed in separate sections on 5
the state general election ballot under the office designation to which they were 6
nominated. If a candidate is registered as affiliated with a political party or political 7
group, the party affiliation, if any, may be designated after the name of the candidate, 8
upon request of the candidate. If a candidate has requested designation as nonpartisan 9
or undeclared, that designation shall be placed after the name of the candidate. If a 10
candidate is not registered as affiliated with a political party or political group and has 11
not requested to be designated as nonpartisan or undeclared, the candidate shall be 12
designated as undeclared. The lieutenant governor and the governor shall be included 13
under the same section. Provision shall be made for voting for write-in candidates 14
within each section. Paper ballots for the state general election shall be printed on 15
white paper. 16
(6) The names of the candidates for each office shall be set out in the 17
same order on ballots printed for use in each house district. The director shall 18
randomly determine the order of the names of the candidates for state representative 19
for each house district. The director shall rotate the order of placement of the names of 20
candidates for governor, lieutenant governor, United States senator, United States 21
representative, and state senator on the ballot for each house district. 22
(7) The general election ballot shall be designed with the names of 23
candidates of each political party, and of any independent candidates qualified under 24
AS 15.30.026, for the office of President and Vice-President of the United States 25
placed in the same section on the ballot rather than the names of electors of President 26
and Vice-President. 27
(8) The general or special election ballot shall be designed with the 28
title and proposition for any initiative, referendum, or constitutional amendment 29
formulated as prescribed by law and placed on the ballot in the manner prescribed by 30
the director. When placed on the ballot, a state ballot proposition or ballot question
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shall carry the number that was assigned to the petition for the proposition or question. 1
Provision shall be made for marking the proposition "Yes" or "No." 2
(9) The general or special election ballot shall be designed with the 3
question of whether a constitutional convention shall be called placed on the ballot in 4
the following manner: "Shall there be a constitutional convention?" Provision shall be 5
made for marking the question "Yes" or "No." 6
(10) A nonpartisan ballot shall be designed for each judicial district in 7
which a justice or judge is seeking retention in office. The ballot shall be divided into 8
four parts. Each part must bear a heading indicating the court to which the candidate is 9
seeking approval, and provision shall be made for marking each question "Yes" or 10
"No." Within each part, the question of whether the justice or judge shall be approved 11
or rejected shall be set out in substantially the following manner: 12
(A) "Shall . . . . . . . be retained as justice of the supreme court 13
for 10 years?"; 14
(B) "Shall . . . . . . . be retained as judge of the court of appeals 15
for eight years?"; 16
(C) "Shall . . . . . . . be retained as judge of the superior court 17
for six years?"; or 18
(D) "Shall . . . . . . . be retained as judge of the district court for 19
four years?" 20
(11) When the legislature by law authorizes a state debt for capital 21
improvements, the director shall place the question of whether the specific 22
authorization shall be ratified by placing the ballot title and question on the next 23
general election ballot, or on the special election ballot if a special election is held for 24
the purpose of ratifying the state debt for capital improvements before the time of the 25
next general election. Unless specifically provided otherwise in the Act authorizing 26
the debt, the ballot title shall, by the use of a few words in a succinct manner, indicate 27
the general subject of the Act. The question shall, by the use of a few sentences in a 28
succinct manner, give a true and impartial summary of the Act authorizing the state 29
debt. The question of whether state debt shall be contracted shall be assigned a letter 30
of the alphabet on the ballot. Provision shall be made for marking the question 31 34-LS0767\A
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substantially as follows: 1
"Bonds. . . . . . . Yes" or "Bonds. . . . . . . No," 2
followed by an appropriate oval. 3
(12) The director may provide for the optical scanning of ballots where 4
the requisite equipment is available. 5
(13) The director may provide for voting by use of electronically 6
generated ballots by a voter who requests to use a machine that produces electronically 7
generated ballots. 8
(14) The director shall include the following statement on the ballot: 9
A candidate's designated affiliation does not imply that the 10
candidate is nominated or endorsed by the political party or group or 11
that the party or group approves of or associates with that candidate, 12
but only that the candidate is registered as affiliated with the political 13
party or political group. 14
(15) Instead of the statement provided by (14) of this section, when 15
candidates for President and Vice-President of the United States appear on a general 16
election ballot, the director shall include the following statement on the ballot: 17
A candidate's designated affiliation does not imply that the 18
candidate is nominated or endorsed by the political party or political 19
group or that the political party or political group approves of or 20
associates with that candidate, but only that the candidate is registered 21
as affiliated with the party or group. The election for President and 22
Vice-President of the United States is different. Some candidates for 23
President and Vice-President are the official nominees of their political 24
party. 25
(16) The director shall design the general election ballots so that the 26
candidates are selected by ranked-choice voting. 27
(17) The director shall design the general election ballot to direct the 28
voter to mark up to two candidates in order of preference [AND TO MARK AS 29
MANY CHOICES AS THE VOTER WISHES], but not to assign the same ranking to 30
more than one candidate for the same office. 31 34-LS0767\A
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* Sec. 2. AS 15.15.350(e) is amended to read: 1
(e) When counting general election ballots, 2
(1) a ballot containing an overvote shall be considered an inactive 3
ballot once the overvote is encountered at the highest ranking for a continuing 4
candidate; 5
(2) if a ballot skips a ranking, then the election board shall count the 6
next ranking [. IF THE NEXT RANKING IS ANOTHER SKIPPED RANKING, THE 7
BALLOT SHALL BE CONSIDERED AN INACTIVE BALLOT ONCE THE 8
SECOND SKIPPED RANKING IS ENCOUNTERED]; and 9
(3) in the event of a tie between the final two continuing candidates, 10
the procedures in AS 15.15.460 and AS 15.20.430 - 15.20.530 shall apply to 11
determine the winner of the general election; in the event of a tie between two 12
candidates with the fewest votes, the tie shall be resolved by lot to determine which 13
candidate is defeated. 14
* Sec. 3. AS 15.25.010 is amended to read: 15
Sec. 15.25.010. Provision for primary election. Candidates for the elective 16
state executive and state and national legislative offices shall be nominated in a 17
primary election by direct vote of the people in the manner prescribed by this chapter. 18
The primary election does not serve to determine the nominee of a political party or 19
political group but serves only to narrow the number of candidates whose names will 20
appear on the ballot at the general election. Except as provided in AS 15.25.100(d), 21
only the three [FOUR] candidates who receive the greatest number of votes for any 22
office shall advance to the general election. 23
* Sec. 4. AS 15.25.100(a) is amended to read: 24
(a) Except as provided in (b) - (g) of this section, of the names of candidates 25
that appear on the primary election ballot under AS 15.25.010, the director shall place 26
on the general election ballot only the names of the three [FOUR] candidates 27
receiving the greatest number of votes for an office. For purposes of this subsection 28
and (b) of this section, candidates for lieutenant governor and governor are treated as a 29
single paired unit. 30
* Sec. 5. AS 15.25.100(b) is amended to read: 31 34-LS0767\A
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(b) If two candidates tie in having the third [FOURTH] greatest number of 1
votes for an office in the primary election, the director shall determine under (g) of 2
this section which candidate's name shall appear on the general election ballot. 3
* Sec. 6. AS 15.25.100(c) is amended to read: 4
(c) Except as otherwise provided in (d) of this section, if a candidate 5
nominated at the primary election dies, withdraws, resigns, becomes disqualified from 6
holding office for which the candidate is nominated, or is certified as being 7
incapacitated in the manner prescribed by this section after the primary election and 64 8
or more days before the general election, the vacancy shall be filled by the director by 9
replacing the withdrawn candidate with the candidate who received the fourth 10
[FIFTH] most votes in the primary election. 11
* Sec. 7. AS 15.58.020(a) is amended to read: 12
(a) Each general election pamphlet must contain 13
(1) photographs and campaign statements submitted by eligible 14
candidates for elective office in the region; 15
(2) information and recommendations filed under AS 15.58.050 on 16
judicial officers subject to a retention election in the region; 17
(3) a map of the house district or districts of the region; 18
(4) sample ballots for house districts of the region; 19
(5) an absentee ballot application; 20
(6) for each ballot proposition submitted to the voters by initiative or 21
referendum petition or by the legislature, 22
(A) the full text of the proposition specifying constitutional or 23
statutory provisions proposed to be affected; 24
(B) the ballot title and the summary of the proposition prepared 25
by the director or by the lieutenant governor; 26
(C) a statement of the costs to the state of implementing the law 27
proposed in an initiative, or of voter approval or rejection of the act that is the 28
subject of a referendum; 29
(D) a neutral summary of the proposition prepared by the 30
Legislative Affairs Agency; 31 34-LS0767\A
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(E) statements submitted that advocate voter approval or 1
rejection of the proposition not to exceed 500 words; 2
(7) for each bond question, a statement of the scope of each project as 3
it appears in the bond authorization; 4
(8) a maximum of two pages of material submitted under 5
AS 15.58.040 by each political party; 6
(9) additional information on voting procedures that the lieutenant 7
governor considers necessary; 8
(10) for the question whether a constitutional convention shall be 9
called, 10
(A) a full statement of the question placed on the ballot; 11
(B) statements not to exceed 500 words that advocate voter 12
approval or rejection of the question; 13
(11) under AS 37.13.170, the Alaska permanent fund annual income 14
statement and balance sheet for the two fiscal years preceding the publication of the 15
election pamphlet; 16
(12) under AS 15.10.090, notice of 17
(A) the establishment or abolition of a precinct; 18
(B) the designation, abolition, or modification of precinct 19
boundaries; and 20
(C) a change in the location of a polling place; 21
(13) the following statement written in bold in a conspicuous location: 22
Each candidate may designate the political party or political 23
group that the candidate is registered as affiliated with. A candidate's 24
political party or political group designation on a ballot does not imply 25
that the candidate is nominated or endorsed by the party or political 26
group or that the party or group approves of or associates with that 27
candidate. 28
In each race, you may vote for any candidate listed. If a primary 29
election was held for a state office, United States senator, or United 30
States representative, the three [FOUR] candidates who received the 31 34-LS0767\A
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most votes for the office in the primary election advanced to the 1
general election. However, if one of the three [FOUR] candidates who 2
received the most votes for an office at the primary election died, 3
withdrew, resigned, was disqualified, or was certified as incapacitated 4
64 days or more before the general election, the candidate who received 5
the fourth [FIFTH] most votes for the office advanced to the general 6
election. 7
At the general election, each candidate will be selected through 8
a ranked-choice voting process and the candidate with the greatest 9
number of votes will be elected. For a general election, you must rank 10
the candidates in the numerical order of your preference, ranking up to 11
two [AS MANY] candidates [AS YOU WISH]. Your second [, 12
THIRD, AND SUBSEQUENT] ranked choice [CHOICES] will be 13
counted only if the candidate you ranked first does not receive enough 14
votes to continue on to the next round of counting, so ranking a second 15
[, THIRD, OR SUBSEQUENT CHOICE] will not hurt your first-16
choice candidate. Your ballot will be counted regardless of whether you 17
choose to rank one or [,] two [, OR MORE] candidates for each office, 18
but it will not be counted if you assign the same ranking to more than 19
one candidate for the same office. 20
* Sec. 8. AS 15.58.020(c) is amended to read: 21
(c) Notwithstanding (a) of this section, if a pamphlet is prepared and published 22
under AS 15.58.010 for a 23
(1) primary election, the pamphlet must contain the following 24
statement written in bold in a conspicuous location, instead of the statement provided 25
by (a)(13) of this section: 26
In each race, you may vote for any candidate listed. The three 27
[FOUR] candidates who receive the most votes for a state office, 28
United States senator, or United States representative will advance to 29
the general election. However, if, after the primary election and 64 days 30
or more before the general election, one of the three [FOUR] 31 34-LS0767\A
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candidates who received the most votes for an office at the primary 1
election dies, withdraws, resigns, is disqualified, or is certified as 2
incapacitated, the candidate who received the fourth [FIFTH] most 3
votes for the office will advance to the general election. 4
Each candidate may designate the political party or political group that the candidate is 5
registered as affiliated with. A candidate's political party or political group designation on a 6
ballot does not imply that the candidate is nominated or endorsed by the party or group or that 7
the party or group approves of or associates with that candidate; 8
(2) special primary election, the pamphlet must contain the following 9
statement written in bold in a conspicuous location, instead of the statement provided 10
by (a)(13) of this section: 11
In each race, you may vote for any candidate listed. The three 12
[FOUR] candidates who receive the most votes for a state office or 13
United States senator will advance to the special election. However, if, 14
after the special primary election and 64 days or more before the 15
special election, one of the three [FOUR] candidates who received the 16
most votes for a state office or United States senator at the primary 17
election dies, withdraws, resigns, is disqualified, or is certified as 18
incapacitated, the candidate who received the fourth [FIFTH] most 19
votes for the office will advance to the general election. Each candidate 20
may designate the political party or political group that the candidate is 21
registered as affiliated with. A candidate's political party or political 22
group designation on a ballot does not imply that the candidate is 23
nominated or endorsed by the party or group or that the party or group 24
approves of or associates with that candidate. 25