Were the ADL Ballots Legal?

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS:

1. The Alaska Primary elections had ballots that combined candidates for the Democratic Party, Alaska Independent Party, and the Libertarian Party of Alaska. The Republicans had separate ballots.
2. By combining two or more parties onto one ballot, the primary is no longer a contest between the two party candidates for the nomination of their party. The percentages of vote for candidates that are not running against each other makes no sense at all.
   
3. The state law says "The director shall prepare and provide a primary election ballot for each political party." To me, that sounds like a separate ballot for each party.
4. The Division of Elections Media Guide says that "In Alaska, the political parties determine which candidates will have access to their ballot and which voters are eligible to vote their ballot."
1. Both the Libertarian Party and Alaska Independent Party by-laws call for what is known as a 'blanket" ballot which lists all candidates for all offices. That makes sense since they don't have more than one candidate for any office. Between the two parties, I could only find a total of three candidates in only the US House and Senate races. They have provisions for other options if the other parties do not allow blanket ballots.
2. I couldn't find the Democratic by-laws, but their Plan of Organization says, " The Alaska Democratic Party’s primary election is open to all registered voters." That doesn't say open to all other parties.

It all seems to hinge on whether the Democratic Party by-laws call for an open primary or a blanket primary.


The Post

Alaska Statutes on Primary Elections say:

Chapter 15.25. NOMINATION OF CANDIDATES

Article 01. PRIMARY ELECTIONS

Sec. 15.25.010. Provision for primary election.

Candidates for the elective state executive and state and national legislative offices shall be nominated in a primary election by direct vote of the people in the manner prescribed by this chapter. The director shall prepare and provide a primary election ballot for each political party. A voter registered as affiliated with a political party may vote that party's ballot. A voter registered as nonpartisan or undeclared rather than as affiliated with a particular political party may vote the political party ballot of the voter's choice unless prohibited from doing so under AS 15.25.014 . A voter registered as affiliated with a political party may not vote the ballot of a different political party unless permitted to do so under AS 15.25.014 .

However, the State did NOT provide a ballot for each party. The Republicans had a separate ballot. But the other parties had all their candidates combined on a single ballot called ADL.



So, for the US Representative, Democrats and Alaska Independent Party were combined. This means, that people voting here did not choose between Diane Benson and Ethan Berkowitz, which is what is supposed to happen in a primary, but they chose between Benson, Berkowitz, AND Don Wright, the Alaskan Independence Party candidate. So, the election results percentages are also skewed. While the two Democrats were in competition with each other and Wright was NOT in competition with anyone, Sean Parnell's Division of Election put them all in competition with each other.



So, Berkowitz and Benson's votes add up to 59,487. The race between Benson and Berkowitz really should be
Benson 40.9%
Berkowitz 59.09%

Wright should have 100% of his party vote.

The same problem exists for the US Senate race. All the parties except the Republicans are combined. But they weren't all running against each other. The statewide elections have winners with significant enough votes that it probably doesn't matter. But suppose the Democratic house race were as close as the Republican. From what it looks like to me, the ballot would be very challengeable.


I did a quick scroll through the election results for the State House and Senate races and there do not seem to be any candidates other than Republicans and Democrats in those races. But my initial reading of the Alaska Statute suggests that there should have been ballots for

Democrats
Republicans
Alaskan Independents
Libertarians

The first two ballots would have had slates for all the offices and propositions.
The Alaska Independent ballot would have had one candidate for the US Senate and one for the US House and the propositions.
The Libertarian Party ballot would have had one candidate for US Senate and the propositions.

The Republicans closed their primary several years ago to only include people, if I recall correctly, who were not members of another party and Republicans. According to the Division of Elections Media Packet (p. 14):

In Alaska, the political parties determine which candidates will have access to their ballot and which voters are eligible to vote their ballot. Based on the political party by-laws, the below table outlines the 2008 Primary election ballot choices.

People with no party affiliation could have chosen any ballot.

Democrats, Alaska Independents, and Libertarians could all have chosen a Libertarian, Alaska Independent, or Democratic ballot.


OK, I've been doing more searching and have come up with interesting results. I can't find the Democratic Party By-Laws on line. However, they do have a Democratic Party Plan of Organization. I could find this statement about primary elections:

ALASKA DEMOCRATIC PARTY ELECTION RULE

Section 10) The Alaska Democratic Party’s primary election is open to all registered voters.

This isn't explicit, but implies that there should be a Democratic primary election, which is open to all voters. That is different from open to all parties.

HOWEVER, the Libertarians and the Alaska Independents both want their candidates to be in primaries with all the candidates.


Alaska Independent:

Article IX. PRIMARY ELECTIONS

The Alaskan Independence Party believing in the principle of voting for the individual, does establish an open primary election which lists all parties' candidates for office.
9.01 Primary Election Electors

Any registered voter who has not voted another primary ballot may vote in the Alaskan Independence Party primary.

9.02 Non-Disqualification of Electors

The fact that a voter has voted in the Alaskan Independence Party Primary Election shall not disqualify that voter from voting in the primary election of any other political party or parties, where that voter's participation in the primary election of the Alaskan Independence Party is authorized or permitted by the rules of the other party, or by the statutes of the United States.

The Libertarian Party of Alaska doesn't believe in Primaries:

ARTICLE XI: PROCEDURE FOR SELECTION OF CANDIDATES FOR POLITICAL OFFICE.

a. The Alaska Libertarian Party maintains that primary elections are a waste of taxpayers’ money, and serve only as free advertising for candidates in a process wherein, for all practical purposes, the winners have already been decided, or, as is often the case, only one candidate per political party is in a primary election for a given post. We have also seen examples of candidates undesirable to a given party winning the primary election. But, until that happy day when government-sponsored primaries are abolished, and we may nominate all our candidates at our own convention, we recognize the hard realities and expediencies of politics, and consent to have Libertarian candidates for elective public office appear on a primary ballot which has the following two characteristics:

(1) The primary ballot also lists the candidates of all (or some) other political parties which are willing to have their candidates appear on a combined primary ballot; and

(2) The primary ballot is available to any voter, regardless of party affiliation, who wishes to select that combined primary ballot, as long as that voter has not also selected a different primary ballot.

b. When it is not possible for Libertarian candidates to appear on a primary ballot which complies with the requirements set out above, the Alaska Libertarian Party will, whenever possible, have its candidates for elective public office appear on a primary ballot which has the following two characteristics:

(1) The primary ballot also lists the candidates of all (or some) other political parties which are willing to have their candidates appear on a combined primary ballot; and

(2) The primary ballot is available to any voter who wishes to select that combined primary ballot, as long as that voter has not also selected a different primary ballot, and is not registered as being affiliated with a political party which does not appear on the combined primary ballot.

c. When it is not possible for Libertarian candidates to appear on a primary ballot which complies with either of the alternatives set out above, the Alaska Libertarian Party executive committee shall choose between any primary ballots which may be available for Libertarian candidates.

It makes sense for parties that only have one candidate in each race to want to be combined with other parties. It gains more visibility for their candidates.


I also checked Wikipedia on the various types of primary elections. The Republicans clearly had a closed primary, which they chose to do a number of years ago. But I thought the Democrats wanted an open primary (see below), but what they got was a blanket primary according to Wikipedia:

• Closed. Voters may vote in a party's primary only if they are registered members of that party. Independents cannot participate. Note that due to the use of the word "independent" in the names of some political parties, the term "non-partisan" is often used to refer to those who are not affiliated with a political party.

• Semi-closed. As in closed primaries, registered party members can vote only in their own party's primary. Semi-closed systems, however, allow unaffiliated voters to participate as well. Depending on the state, independents either make their choice of party primary privately, inside the voting booth, or publicly, by registering with any party on Election Day.

• Open. A registered voter may vote in any party primary regardless of his own party affiliation. When voters do not register with a party before the primary, it is called a pick-a-party primary because the voter can select which party's primary he or she wishes to vote in on election day. Because of the open nature of this system, a practice known as "raiding" may occur. "Raiding" consists of voters of one party crossing over and voting in the primary of another party, effectively allowing a party to help choose its opposition's candidate. The theory is that opposing party members vote for the weakest candidate of the opposite party in order to give their own party the advantage in the general election. An example of this can be seen in the 1998 Vermont senatorial primary with the election of Fred Tuttle for the Republican candidate.

• Semi-open. Each voter may vote in any single primary, but must publicly declare which primary she will vote in before entering the voting booth. Typically this declaration is accomplished by requesting a ballot. In many states with semi-open primaries, election officials record each voter's choice of party and provide the parties access to this information.

• Blanket. This system allows voters to vote for one candidate per office, regardless of party affiliation.

• Run-off. A primary in which the ballot is not restricted to one party and the top two candidates advance to the general election regardless of party affiliation. (A runoff differs from a primary in that a second round is only needed if no candidate attains a majority in the first round.)

Since I didn't find the Democratic by-laws, I'm not sure what they say. Their Action Plan says their primary should be open to all voters, but doesn't say open to all candidates. That would seem to leave the question unanswered until someone can find the specific language in the Democratic by-laws that says whether they intended to have an open or blanket primary.