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.

To Portland

My wife and son took off in the rental truck at 6:30am headed for Half Moon Bay. I waited at my daughter's house, doing some writing, til she got up for breakfast. Then, for the first time in many years, I walked my daughter to school. On the way we passed the shoe tree. I think people should have fun and not be overly serious all the time, and this tree is unique. But I also couldn't help wondering about how rich some people are, that they can simply throw good shoes up into a tree, while other people in other parts of the world can't afford shoes.






If I got this right, this is Savery Hall being rehabbed. My daughter's department has been moved out while they are working on it inside. The University of Washington campus is full of big old brick buildings and huge trees and a surprising amount of activities given school doesn't start for a while.





Then I drove south, stopping at the Olympia home of old Anchorage friends Don and Joan where I managed to be just in time for lunch. Really, Don, that wasn't planned. Their home is a beautiful spot at the end of Puget Sound and we ate overlooking the water. And the sun was out for lunch! It was nice to see Don and Joan (who came home for lunch) after maybe four years.




Now I'm at Marty's on Hayden Island, just across the bridge from Washington State. Marty is another former Alaskan and we did a lot with Marty and his wife Ellen the six months we lived in Portland five years ago. Ellen had been on dialysis for years and died just over a month ago. She was an very talented, bright, and beautiful woman whose smile lit up the room. Marty was devoted to Ellen throughout her long illness. I'm glad we're able to spend some time with Marty now and maybe distract him a little.
They had finally found a home they both really enjoyed out on Janzten Island. Marty and I had dinner out on one of the many docks.

Celtic Diva's Conventioning, I'm Moving Boxes

First meet the kids for breakfast at Portage Bay Cafe in the University district.











Then we drive to the truck rental place.













Then to where J and C have had their stuff stored for the year. It was all in these three large units.












Here's the truck still mostly empty.













The unit is finally empty!!!
















The truck is almost full, just the mattresses to buttress the end.













The view from the storage building looking at the end of the truck at the dock.












One of the workers at the storage place. Lots of tatoos.











On the way back to M's. The skies opened.







Then off to dinner at Galeria on Capitol Hill - meet a former student and her husband and a good friend of J.




Galieria's Jose Cuervo collection.










Tomorrow J and J drive the truck to San Francisco.

From Dry to Wet

We left a cloudy, but dry Anchorage about 7:30pm.



And arrived at cloudy and wet Seattle about midnight.

School Starts Tomorrow

Since it looks like I'll be here the whole Fall semester, I've decided to put some structure into my life and take a couple of classes this fall at UAA.

And I'm taking Mariano Gonzales' Digital Art and Design. I took a similar class from him years ago - I think it was just called computer art back then. I'd seen some murals he'd made with video and digital and thought I should learn. Well, it wasn't a class to touch up photos. It was an art class and on the first day when we got our assignment to take three of the tools in the program we were using (Corel Draw?) and make a picture, I quickly discovered that everyone else in class was an accomplished artist.

My simple flower pot with a daisy looked like 2nd grade compared to the detailed cowboy boots on one side of me and the portrait on the other side. But I worked hard and did reasonably well, and learned a lot.

So this will give me a chance to get my photoshop skills back up and do some more creative work with my pictures and from scratch. [Posted with permission of the artist]

Mariano is a UAA professor and wicked artist whose work is technically precise and often political as this picture of St. Ted demonstrates. You can see more of his poster work here. He's doing more sculpture now.

I'm signing up for a weight training class just so I'll get in on a regular basis. I've been reasonably good about running (or biking), but I haven't done weights for a while. Class gets me in twice a week and I get pushed more than I would push myself.

Unfortunately, we head out tonight for Seattle to see the kids and then Portland to visit friends there. I have to get word to the weight training teacher, but there's no name listed.

Read Books Not Blogs

Gary sent me this picture which he got from The Girl in the Green Dress











Good fiction is packed with far more truth than most non-fiction. And it's a great escape from the here and now. But I've been trapped in Salman Rushdie for much too long.

I started reading The Ground Beneath Her Feet on the plane to Thailand last February. It starts out in Mumbai full of Rushdie's wild prose riffs that soar, race, even explode, always challenging.

Why do we care about singers? Wherein lies the power of the songs? Maybe it derives from the sheer strangeness of there being singing in the world. The note, the scale, the chord; melodies, harmonies, arrangements; symphonies, ragas, Chinese operas, jazz, the blues: that such things should exist, that we should have discovered the magical intervals and distances that yield the poor cluster of notes, all within the span of a human hand, from which we can build our cathedrals of sound, is as alchemical a mystery as mathematics, or wine, or love. (p. 19)

Some of his books are like that non-stop. In this one the gaps got longer and longer as he wandered off into cosmic collisions that didn't work for me. The second half of the book became a burden as I had to slog through the parts between the brilliance.

A fictional rock impresario explains why he bought the pirate radio ships blasting rock and roll into England in the 60's when the government stations on land only played the music of the past:

I understood then that the limit on the needle time was the enemy, the censor. The limit was General Waste-More-Land's broadcasting ally, General Haig's whore. Enough with big bands and men in white tuxes with bow ties pretending nothing was going on. I mean come on. A nation at war deserves to hear the music that's going mano a mano with the war machine, that's sticking flowers down its gun barrels and baring its breasts to the missiles. The soldiers are singing these songs as they die. But this is not the way soldiers used to sing, marching into battle bellowing hymns, kidding themselves they had god on their side; these aren't patriotic-bullshit, get-yourself-up-for-it songs These kids are using singing instead, as an affirmation of what's natural and true, singing against the unnatural lie of the war. Using song as a banner of their doomed youth. Not morituri te salutant, but morituri say up yours, Jack, those about to die give you the fucking finger. That's why I got the ships. (p. 267)

...and whenever someone who knows you disappears, you lose one version of yourself. Yourself as you were seen, as you were judged to be. Lover or enemy, mother or friend, those who know us construct us, and their several knowings slant the different facets of our characters like diamond-cutter's tools. Each such loss is a step leading to the grave, where all versions blend and end. (p. 509)

I kept putting it down, picking it up, putting it down again. Mostly I was caught up with work in Thailand, studying Thai, and just being in Thailand. And I've read some non-fiction - mostly trying to figure out how to use this computer better, but also Maimonides. I probably should have permanently set Rushdie aside a couple hundred pages ago. But like a gambler at a slot machine, I'd get another small prose jackpot which kept me plugging along until now I'm at page 518, only 57 to go. I'll be out from under the tyranny of this book soon, free to enjoy fiction again.

Books should be hard to put down. This one is hard to pick up. And today I picked up a totally different book. It's only 180 pages. It's by Angolan, José Eduardo Agualusa, and is translated from the Portuguese. Totally engaging. The Book of the Chameleons is narrated by a gecko on the walls of the house of Félix Ventura.

"But do tell me, my dear man - who are your clients?"
Félix Ventura gave in. There was a whole class, he explained a whole new bourgeoisie, who sought him out. They were businessmen, ministers, landowners, diamond smugglers, generals - people, in other words, whose futures are secure. But what these people lack is a good past, a distinguished ancestry, diplomas. In sum, a name that resonates with nobility and culture. He sells them a brand new past. He draws up their family tree. He provides them with photographs of their grandparents and great-grandparents, gentlemen of elegant bearing and old-fashioned ladies...He sells them this simple dream.

Touched by Fall

Birch leaves, most still green
One already touched by fall
Clings no tree, a wall.

Bike Trail Confusion

As I was near the end of my third mile today, near Lake Otis and Chester Creek, probably the corridor used by the bear hit on Gambell yesterday morning, (Wow, as I searched for the link to that article, I found out that everybody is carrying that story. It was an AP story even in the Anchorage Daily News), I saw a couple with bikes, stopped and looking at a map.

Well, they wanted to do the Loop - Chester Creek to Campbell Creek to Coastal Trail back to downtown. It's a great ride, but there are these gaping holes in it as well as unmarked turns. The visitor trying to patch together these three great trails really faces a challenge. They even said they tried it from the other way, but eventually gave up.

And I feel bad. I tried to explain to them how to





1) make sure they turned right so they could cross the Northern Lights bridge,









2) then turn the right way to get around Goose Lake, (the sign is all backward)













3) past the construction at UAA




and find the 4) connection after the Tudor Bridge, then 5) find the Campbell trail from there, and 6) refind it after it stops at Lake Otis, then












7) get under the Seward Highway (which I have posted here),










then 8) turn the right way on the dirt trail to get to Arctic Road Runner where they'd be home free.



Except, after they left, I realized that, of course, they weren't home free, because that trail doesn't have an obvious connection to the Coastal Trail and they would be lost at the same break they were lost at coming the other way.

Maybe someone will tell them how to get to Kincaid from there. They have till 9 tonight to catch their plane. Sorry, I left out the end. But by Arctic Road Runner I already figured they'd have to be pretty smart and pretty lucky just to get there.

We need:

1. A bike trail map that gets people through the gaps
2. Signs on the trail to help people do the Loop
3. To have the gaps filled in

It's a great ride, but finding it is a much bigger challenge than riding it.


I'll try to post some instructions with pictures when we get back from our trip.

Alaskan Abroad Adds to the Corrections Discussion

Dillon at Alaskan Abroad has added to the discussion on making corrections to online versions of the newspaper (and blogs.)

I really think these type of changes call for an editor's note at the top of the story pointing out exactly what was altered.

The whole post is at the link above.

Biden