00 HOUSE BILL NO. 193 01 "An Act relating to the primary election; and providing for an effective date." 02 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 03  * Section 1. The uncodified law of the State of Alaska is amended by adding a new section 04 to read: 05 PURPOSE. The purpose of this Act is to 06 (1) comply with the decision of the United States Supreme Court in California 07 Democratic Party v. Jones, 530 U.S. 567 (2000), which required state law to recognize a 08 political party's right to determine with whom they will associate under the First Amendment 09 to the Constitution of the United States to nominate candidates of the party to be placed on the 10 general election ballot; 11 (2) implement the findings of the primary election task force convened by the 12 lieutenant governor to respond to this court decision; and 13 (3) have a new system in place in time to conduct the next primary election in 14 an orderly and efficient manner consistent with this court decision. 15 * Sec. 2. AS 15.25.010 is repealed and reenacted to read: 01 Sec. 15.25.010. Provisions for primary election; ballots; voter  02 participation. (a) Candidates for the elective state executive, and state and national 03 legislative, offices shall be nominated in a primary election in the manner prescribed 04 by this chapter. 05 (b) The director shall prepare and provide blanket primary election ballots in 06 accordance with AS 15.25.012 and the other provisions of this chapter. 07 (c) If modified blanket primary election ballots are provided under 08 AS 15.25.012(b) to effectuate limitations on who may participate in the selection of a 09 political party's candidates under the party's bylaws, a voter may use only one of the 10 ballots. For the purpose of determining which modified blanket ballot a voter may 11 use, a voter's party affiliation is considered to be the affiliation registered with the 12 director as of the 30th day before the primary election. If a voter changes party 13 affiliation within the 30 days before the primary election, the voter's previous party 14 affiliation shall be used for the determination under this subsection. 15  * Sec. 3. AS 15.25 is amended by adding new sections to read: 16 Sec. 15.25.012. Blanket primary election ballots.  (a) Except as provided in 17 (b) of this section, the director shall prepare and provide a blanket primary election 18 ballot that contains all candidates for elective state executive, and state and national 19 legislative, offices. All voters may use the blanket primary election ballot prepared 20 under this subsection. 21 (b) In place of the blanket primary election ballot under (a) of this section, if a 22 political party notifies the director under AS 15.25.014(a) that the party's bylaws limit 23 who may participate in the primary election for selection of the party's candidates, and 24 otherwise meets the requirements of this chapter and other applicable law, the director 25 shall prepare and provide modified blanket primary election ballots in a manner that 26 effectuates those limitations. The ballots prepared and provided under this subsection 27 shall preserve to all voters the right to vote for any candidate except a candidate who 28 seeks the nomination of a party that has limited voter participation. 29 Sec. 15.25.014. Participation in primary election selection of a political  30 party's candidates. (a) No later than 5:00 p.m., Alaska time, on September 1 of the 31 calendar year before the calendar year in which a primary election is to be held, a 01 political party must submit a notice in writing to the director stating whether the party 02 bylaws limit who may participate in the primary election for selection of the party's 03 candidates for elective state executive, and state and national legislative, offices. A 04 copy of the party's bylaws limiting who may participate in the primary election for 05 selection of the party's candidates, documentation required under (d) of this section, 06 and other information required by the director, must be submitted along with the 07 notice. The notice, bylaws, documentation, and other information required by the 08 director must be provided by the party's chairperson or another party official 09 designated by the party's bylaws. 10 (b) If a political party fails to timely provide the notice and information 11 required by (a) of this section or to otherwise meet the requirements of this section and 12 other applicable provisions of law, the director shall place candidates of that party 13 affiliation on a primary election ballot under AS 15.25.012 in a manner consistent with 14 no limitation on who may participate in the primary election for selection of the party's 15 candidates. 16 (c) Once a political party timely submits a notice and bylaws under (a) of this 17 section and the director finds that the party has met the requirements of this chapter 18 and other applicable laws, the primary election ballot for selection of the party's 19 candidates will continue to be consistent with that notice. However, for a subsequent 20 primary election the party shall timely submit another notice, bylaws, documentation, 21 and other information under (a) of this section if the party's bylaws regarding a 22 limitation on who may participate in the primary election for selection of the party's 23 candidates change. 24 (d) Party bylaws required to be submitted under (a) of this section must be 25 precleared by the United States Department of Justice under 42 U.S.C. 1973(c) (sec. 5 26 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965) before submission. Documentation of the 27 preclearance must accompany the bylaws submitted under (a) of this section. 28  * Sec. 4. AS 15.25.060 is amended to read: 29 Sec. 15.25.060. Preparation and distribution of ballots. Each [THE] 30 primary election ballot shall be prepared and distributed by the director in the manner 31 prescribed for general election ballots except as specifically provided otherwise for the 01 primary election. For the blanket primary election ballot under AS 15.25.012(a),  02 the [THE] director shall print the ballot on white paper and place the names of all 03 candidates who have properly filed in groups according to offices filed for, without 04 regard to party affiliation. For a modified blanket primary election ballot under  05 AS 15.25.012(b), the director shall print the ballot on white paper and place the  06 names of candidates who have properly filed, and who may appear on that ballot  07 under AS 15.25.012 and 15.25.014, in groups according to the offices filed for. 08 The order of the placement of the names for each office shall be as provided for the 09 general election ballot. Blank spaces may not be provided on a [THE] ballot for the 10 writing or pasting in of names. 11 * Sec. 5. This Act takes effect immediately under AS 01.10.070(c).