HB 200-NONPARTISAN OPEN PRIMARY ELECTIONS  5:59:56 PM CHAIR CLAMAN announced that the final order of business would be HOUSE BILL NO. 200, "An Act establishing a top two nonpartisan open primary election system for elective state executive and state and national legislative offices; repealing the special runoff election for the office of United States senator or United States representative; changing appointment procedures relating to precinct watchers and members of precinct election boards, election district absentee and questioned ballot counting boards, and the Alaska Public Offices Commission; requiring certain written notices to appear in election pamphlets and polling places; relating to declarations of candidacy and letters of intent; and amending the definition of 'political party.'" 6:00:13 PM REPRESENTATIVE LEDOUX moved to adopt Amendment 1, Version 30- LS0038\U.1, Bullard, 4/12/17, which read as follows: Page 2, following line 27: Insert a new bill section to read:  "* Sec. 3. AS 15.07.060(b) is amended to read: (b) Every registration form must include space  for an applicant who is registered in another  jurisdiction to specify that jurisdiction and a notice  that the director will notify the chief elections  officer in that jurisdiction. If the applicant has been previously registered to vote in another jurisdiction, the director shall notify the chief elections officer in that jurisdiction that the applicant has registered to vote in Alaska and request that that jurisdiction cancel the applicant's voter registration there." REPRESENTATIVE FANSLER objected. 6:00:13 PM REPRESENTATIVE LEDOUX explained that Amendment 1 clarifies the process in the event candidate two died, was incapacitated, decided to get out of the race, and so forth, the amendment advances candidate three to the number two position. REPRESENTATIVE KOPP described Amendment 1 as fairly exhaustive, involving a number of policy calls and he would like a full analysis. REPRESENTATIVE LEDOUX answered that the bottom line is Amendment 1 simply moves the candidate in third place to the second place position. 6:01:51 PM COURTNEY ENRIGHT, Staff, Representative Gabrielle LeDoux, Alaska State Legislature, noted there is a lot of conforming language within Amendment 1, although, a couple of pieces do create a bit more intricacy. The amendment provides that in the event of a tie, for example, if two candidates had advanced that had tied in the first position, the person who came in second "instead of strictly third" would advance, and it takes into account that particular instance of occurrence. The amendment also speaks to current statute which states that if the state was 64 days out from the general election, the third candidate would not advance, which is also in compliance with federal voting laws. This relates to the requirement to have ballots prepared and forwarded to overseas troops, and others, 45 days prior to an election, and that deadline is in existing statute. Those, she said, are the biggest complications in the amendment. 6:02:53 PM CHAIR CLAMAN, in response to Representative Kopp, advised that his office received Amendment 1 yesterday, and it was distributed to the committee last night. 6:03:22 PM REPRESENTATIVE EASTMAN commented that under the state's current partisan primary system, for example, there is an interested party to nominate or replace if someone resigns or whatever, and that is not included in this proposal. He pointed out that he was concerned that its absence may militate in the direction of creating a new or greater incentive for coercing someone or convincing someone to withdraw knowing that another party candidate might be the replacement. 6:04:27 PM REPRESENTATIVE FANSLER pointed out that the amendment speaks only of the third person moving up into second place, and he could think of several scenarios where possibly that would not be the appropriate avenue. For instance, he remarked, the third person had moved on with their life and decided not to be part of the election, there was not a mechanism to move down to the fourth candidate. He asked what happens if two people drop off the ticket with no mechanism to move to lower positions. 6:05:12 PM MS. ENRIGHT agreed that there is no mechanism to move down through the other positions because the amendment stays consistent with other systems. She explained that those other systems do not allow anyone to advance from the third position to the second position in the general election, and they have managed to successfully implement their systems for many years. Ironically, she explained, the reason the other systems do not allow candidates to advance from third to second position if there is an incapacitated instance, are the same reasons Representative Eastman expressed concern about not having an individual advancing from second to third. The other systems, she explained, believe there is a greater incentive for coercion. For example, when speaking with the group that ran the California ballot initiative, it advised that it had specifically not included that caveat because it was believed that in continuing to move down the line, political pressure could be provided to get individuals to withdraw their candidacy. She confirmed that Amendment 1 does not provide a mechanism to continue moving down the ballot past the third candidate. 6:06:21 PM REPRESENTATIVE FANSLER asked whether the main bill or this amendment speaks to a situation where there is a tie or second and third place tie. MS. ENRIGHT explained that it would be addressed in the same manner as any other tie vote would be addressed under Alaska State Statute, "through a lot or a coin toss." 6:07:10 PM REPRESENTATIVE FANSLER withdrew his objection. 6:07:14 PM REPRESENTATIVE REINBOLD objected. 6:07:22 PM A roll call vote was taken. Representatives Kreiss-Tomkins, LeDoux, Fansler, Eastman, and Claman voted in favor of the adoption of Amendment 1. Representatives Kopp and Reinbold voted against it. Therefore, Amendment 1 was adopted by a vote of 5-2. 6:07:59 PM REPRESENTATIVE EASTMAN moved to adopt Amendment 2, Version 30- LS0038\U.2, Bullard, 4/14/17, which read as follows: Page 1, line 1, following "nonpartisan": Insert "ranked-choice" Page 6, line 9, following "nonpartisan": Insert "ranked-choice" Page 7, following line 12: Insert a new paragraph to read: "(16) The director shall design the primary or special primary election ballot to accommodate ranked-choice voting for candidates for the offices of governor and lieutenant governor, for candidates for the legislature, and for candidates for the United States Congress. The ballot shall direct the voter to mark candidates in order of preference and to mark as many choices as the voter wishes, but not to assign a particular ranking to more than one candidate in the same race."   Page 7, following line 20: Insert new bill sections to read: "* Sec. 12. AS 15.15.350 is amended by adding new subsections to read: (c) When counting primary or special primary election ranked-choice voting ballots, the election board shall initially count each ballot as one vote for the highest-ranked continuing candidate on the ballot or as an exhausted ballot. The election threshold shall be calculated. Tabulation shall then proceed sequentially as follows: (1) if the number of continuing candidates whose vote totals exceed the election threshold is equal to two, those two candidates are nominated, and the tabulation is complete; if the number of continuing candidates is equal to or less than two, then those continuing candidates are nominated, and the tabulation is complete; otherwise, the tabulation continues to (2) of this subsection; (2) if no candidate has a vote total that exceeds the election threshold, the tabulation continues to (3) of this subsection; if at least one continuing candidate has a vote total that exceeds the election threshold, then the continuing candidate with the highest vote total is nominated, the number of surplus votes for the candidate shall be calculated, and the surplus fraction for the candidate shall be calculated; the new transfer value of each vote cast for the candidate shall be calculated; votes for the candidate shall be added, at their new transfer values, to the totals of each ballot's highest-ranked continuing candidates or counted as exhausted ballots, and a new round begins under (1) of this subsection; in all subsequent rounds, candidates elected under this paragraph have vote totals equal to the election threshold; (3) the candidate with the fewest votes is defeated; then, if the number of continuing candidates is equal to two, all continuing candidates are elected, and the tabulation is complete; otherwise, votes for the defeated candidate shall cease to be counted for the defeated candidate and shall be added, at their current transfer values, to the total of the next-ranked continuing candidate on each ballot or counted as exhausted ballots, and a new round begins under (1) of this subsection. (d) When counting primary or special primary ranked-choice election ballots, (1) a ballot assigning a particular ranking to more than one candidate for an office shall be declared invalid when the double ranking is reached; (2) if a ballot skips a ranking, then the election board shall count the next ranking; and (3) if there is a tie vote between continuing candidates, the procedures in AS 15.15.460 and AS 15.20.430 - 15.20.530 shall be followed. (e) In this section, (1) "continuing candidate" means a candidate that has not been defeated or nominated; (2) "election threshold" means the number of votes sufficient for a candidate to be nominated; the election threshold is calculated by dividing the total number of votes for continuing candidates in the first round by three and rounding up to four decimal places; (3) "exhausted ballot" means a ballot that is not counted for a continuing candidate for one or more of the following reasons: (A) it does not rank a continuing candidate; (B) its highest continuing ranking contains an overvote; or (C) it includes two or more consecutive skipped rankings before its highest continuing ranking; (4) "highest continuing ranking" means the highest ranking for a continuing candidate; (5) "overvote" means the assignment by a voter of the same ranking to more than one candidate; (6) "ranking" means the number assigned by a voter to a candidate to express the voter's choice for that candidate; a ranking of "1" is the highest ranking, followed by "2," and then "3," and so on; (7) "round" means an instance of the sequence of voting tabulation in a primary or special primary election; (8) "skipped ranking" means a ranking blank on a ballot on which a voter has ranked another candidate at a subsequent ranking; (9) "surplus" means a positive difference between a candidate's vote total and the election threshold; (10) "surplus fraction" means the number equal to a candidate's surplus divided by the candidate's vote total, calculated to four decimal places and ignoring any remainder; (11) "transfer value" means the proportion of a vote that a ballot will contribute to its highest continuing ranking; each ballot begins with a transfer value of one; if a ballot transfers from a nominated candidate with a surplus, the ballot receives a new transfer value that is calculated by multiplying the surplus fraction of the nominated candidate by the current transfer value of the ballot, calculated to four decimal places and ignoring any remainder.  * Sec. 13. AS 15.15.360(a)(1) is amended to read: (1) A voter may mark a ballot only by filling in, making "X" marks, diagonal, horizontal, or vertical marks, solid marks, stars, circles, asterisks, checks, or plus signs that are clearly spaced in the oval opposite the name of the candidate, proposition, or question that the voter desires to designate. In addition, a voter may mark a ballot at a  primary or special primary election by the use of  roman or Arabic numerals that are clearly spaced in  one of the squares opposite the name of the candidate  that the voter desires to rank.  * Sec. 14. AS 15.15.360(a)(4) is amended to read: (4) Except as provided in AS 15.15.350(c)  for primary and special primary election ballots, if [IF] a voter marks more names than there are persons to be elected to the office, the votes for candidates for that office may not be counted.  * Sec. 15. AS 15.15.370 is amended to read: Sec. 15.15.370. Completion of ballot count;  certificate. When the count of ballots is completed, and in no event later than the day after the election, the election board shall make a certificate in duplicate of the results. The certificate includes the number of votes cast for each candidate, including the  number of votes at each round of the primary or  special primary ranked-choice voting tabulation  process under AS 15.15.350(c), and the number of votes for and against each proposition, yes or no on each question, and any additional information prescribed by the director. The election board shall, immediately upon completion of the certificate or as soon thereafter as the local mail service permits, send in one sealed package to the director one copy of the certificate and the register. In addition, all ballots properly cast shall be mailed to the director in a separate, sealed package. Both packages, in addition to an address on the outside, shall clearly indicate the precinct from which they come. Each board shall, immediately upon completion of the certification and as soon thereafter as the local mail service permits, send the duplicate certificate to the respective election supervisor. The director may authorize election boards in precincts in those areas of the state where distance and weather make mail communication unreliable to forward their election results by telephone, telegram, or radio. The director may authorize the unofficial totaling of votes on a regional basis by election supervisors, tallying the votes as indicated on duplicate certificates. To assure adequate protection, the director shall prescribe the manner in which the ballots, registers, and all other election records and materials are thereafter preserved, transferred, and destroyed.  * Sec. 16. AS 15.15.450 is amended to read: Sec. 15.15.450. Certification of state ballot  counting review. Upon completion of the state ballot counting review for a primary or special primary  election, the director shall certify the two persons  receiving the greatest majority and the second  greatest majority of votes for the office for which  those persons were candidates as nominated to the  general election ballot, and, for a general election, the director shall certify the person receiving the largest number of votes for the office for which that person was a candidate as elected to that office and shall certify the approval of a justice or judge not rejected by a majority of the voters voting on the question. The director shall issue to the elected candidates and approved justices and judges a certificate of their election or approval. The director shall also certify the results of a proposition and other question except that the lieutenant governor shall certify the results of an initiative, referendum, or constitutional amendment." Renumber the following bill sections accordingly. Page 11, line 16: Delete "number of votes and the second greatest  number" Insert "majority of votes and the second greatest  majority" Page 13, line 13, following "ballots.": Insert "(a)" Page 13, following line 23: Insert a new subsection to read: "(b) The director shall include instructions on primary and special primary election ballots directing the voter to rank candidates for an office in order of preference and to rank as many choices as the voter wishes, but not to assign the same ranking to more than one candidate." Page 13, line 28: Delete "number of votes and the second greatest number" Insert "majority of votes and the second greatest majority" Page 13, line 31: Delete "number" Insert "majority" Page 14, line 3: Delete "number" Insert "majority" Page 14, line 9: Delete "number" Insert "majority" Page 14, line 10: Delete "number" Insert "majority" Page 14, line 11: Delete "number" Insert "majority" Page 14, line 13: Delete "number" Insert "majority" Page 14, line 14: Delete "number" Insert "majority" Page 14, line 15: Delete "number" Insert "majority" Page 14, line 17: Delete "number" Insert "majority" Page 22, line 28: Delete "most" Insert "greatest majority and second greatest majority of" Page 23, line 16: Delete "may vote for any candidate listed" Insert "must rank the candidates in the numerical order of your preference, ranking as many candidates as you wish. Your second, third, and subsequent ranked choices will be counted only if the candidate you ranked first does not receive enough votes to continue on to the next round of counting, so ranking a second, third, or subsequent choice will not hurt your first- choice candidate. Your ballot will be counted regardless of whether you choose to rank one, two, or more candidates for each office, but it will not be counted if you assign the same ranking to more than one candidate for the same office" Page 23, line 17: Delete "most" Insert "greatest majority and second greatest majority of" Page 23, line 28: Delete "may vote for any candidate listed" Insert "must rank the candidates in the numerical order of your preference, ranking as many candidates as you wish. Your second, third, and subsequent ranked choices will be counted only if the candidate you ranked first does not receive enough votes to continue on to the next round of counting, so ranking a second, third, or subsequent choice will not hurt your first- choice candidate. Your ballot will be counted regardless of whether you choose to rank one, two, or more candidates for each office, but it will not be counted if you assign the same ranking to more than one candidate for the same office" Page 23, line 29: Delete "most" Insert "greatest majority and second greatest majority of" Page 25, following line 23: Insert a new bill section to read: "* Sec. 59. AS 15.80.010 is amended by adding a new paragraph to read: (46) "ranked-choice voting" means the method of casting and tabulating votes at a primary or special primary election in which voters rank candidates in order of preference and in which tabulation proceeds in sequential rounds in which last-place candidates are defeated and the candidates with the greatest majority of votes and the second greatest majority of votes are nominated to appear on the general election ballot." Page 26, line 9, following "NONPARTISAN": Insert "RANKED-CHOICE OPEN" Renumber the following bill sections accordingly. REPRESENTATIVE LEDOUX objected. 6:08:09 PM REPRESENTATIVE EASTMAN offered that Amendment 2 provides an opportunity to include "ranked-choice voting" in this bill. He explained that "ranked-choice voting" in multi-winner elections maximizes the effectiveness of every vote to ensure that as many voters as possible will help elect a candidate they rank highly. It minimizes wasted votes and the impact of tactical voting, allows voters to have more choices, encourages positive campaigning collation building, upholds both minority representation, and the principle of majority rule. Due to its proven history, its emphasis on candidates rather than parties in its ability to allow voters to express their full honest preference on the ballots, ranked-choice voting is the form of fair representative voting best suited for use in the United States elections. Recently, he advised, the State of Maine decided to take this route and they are the first state and, were Alaska to do this it would be the second state. 6:09:30 PM REPRESENTATIVE LEDOUX said she was unsure whether she really opposed this amendment as it was fairly complicated, but she would certainly look into the amendment as the bill moved on to the next committee of referral, assuming it so moved. 6:10:18 PM REPRESENTATIVE KREISS-TOMKINS described it as a monster of an amendment, shared Representative LeDoux's intrigue having followed ranked-choice voting (RCV) quite a bit, and noted the State of Maine initiative made Maine the first state, but several municipalities may have ranked-choice voting. He asked Representative Eastman to explain how this would interact with the bill as written, whether it would be an ornament on top or would effectively replace it. REPRESENTATIVE EASTMAN responded that there many way of performing ranked-choice voting, and in this case the bill creates a top two results of a primary that go off into a run- off in the general remains as is, the amendment revamps the primary portion of the bill completely. For example, it comes up in a situation where "you have so many candidates who run for the office based on however many candidates run" and then calculate those top two and those top two would go on, and from there the bill would be unchanged. He explained that part of that is because it's the bill in front of the committee and that would have been a completely different bill to carry that into the general, but also, he further explained, research found that [Alaska's] constitution may have a prohibition, at least in the gubernatorial race, against ranked-choice voting in the general election for the governor. 6:12:23 PM REPRESENTATIVE KREISS-TOMKINS surmised that basically the primary election would be a ranked-choice vote, and then the top two coming out of that ranked-choice vote primary election would advance to the general, and it would be the top two. REPRESENTATIVE EASTMAN answered in the affirmative. 6:12:43 PM REPRESENTATIVE LEDOUX asked whether it would still be an open primary system under Amendment 2. REPRESENTATIVE EASTMAN responded that there is nothing that would say it would have to change, and that could be another discussion point if there was a reason to change it. Ranked- choice voting, he explained, is not mutually exclusive to nonpartisan in any manner. There could still be the same opportunity to identify as a particular party candidate but the party would not be controlling who could file for office, and who could be part of that first election. 6:13:21 PM REPRESENTATIVE LEDOUX asked whether the State of Maine has an open primary, because her office had not identified the State of Maine as having an open primary. REPRESENTATIVE EASTMAN replied that he thought Representative LeDoux was correct, but he was not an expert on that part of the process. REPRESENTATIVE LEDOUX related that she would be willing to look into this. It appears Representative Kreiss-Tomkins may also be fascinated by the idea and he is the chair of the next committee of referral, she offered. REPRESENTATIVE KREISS-TOMKINS concurred with Representative LeDoux's comments, and described the amendment as a knuckle ball. 6:14:15 PM CHAIR CLAMAN said that he does not support this amendment, and referred to Alpheus Bullard, Legislative Legal and Research Services, 4/4/17 memorandum directed to Representative Eastman, page 3, last two sentences of the first paragraph, which read as follows: Note that the language required to implement a "multi- winner" ranked-choice system defines simplification. Given the time allotted, I used the language of Fairvote's multi-winner ranked-choice system, modifying it only as necessary or as appropriate to a "two-winner" system CHAIR CLAMAN commented that this is an interesting idea and there is the notion that ranked-choice voting is also sometimes called the "instant run-off method." He opined that, at least with regard to the state's nonpartisan municipal elections, the instant run-off would be a positive thing particularly in the mayoral races where 25 percent of the voters show up for the first go-round which turns out to be a run-off, and about 15 percent of the voters show up for the second round. He described, with regard to instant run-offs and ranked-choice it would be a service to the voters to not go through the cost. 6:15:29 PM REPRESENTATIVE LEDOUX maintained her objection. 6:15:34 PM REPRESENTATIVE EASTMAN related that he appreciated the comments from the committee as this is something that hasn't been tried before, noting a desire to change something for the better after carefully considering what would be considered "the better," and that he offered the amendment as part of that conversation. The drafter of the amendment noted there had to be a number of caveats to account for all of the different potential outcomes of tie-votes, such as incorrectly marking a ballot and so forth, which required complexity in the language which was unavoidable. He stressed that there was no slight to the drafter who put in a huge amount of time drafting the amendment. Representative Eastman withdrew Amendment 2, with the understanding that hopefully this amendment could be part of the understanding moving forward. 6:16:58 PM REPRESENTATIVE KREISS-TOMKINS commented that he is supportive of the bill and intrigued by Amendment 2, and was excited to see the bill and amendment in the next committee of referral. 6:17:18 PM REPRESENTATIVE KOPP commented that he does not support the bill and believes HB 200 intentionally dilutes the validity of having political parties, the purpose of having primary elections is so that voters can see which candidate best supports their party views, and it introduces mischief into the process by having insincere candidates committing to carrying out the platform of the party on behalf of many voters. 6:18:07 PM REPRESENTATIVE REINBOLD noted that the policy of the bill had not been vetted well and that she found it disturbing because the process in which people are elected, and the people in power, is of the upmost importance to the people of Alaska. She said she does not support HB 200. 6:19:03 PM REPRESENTATIVE FANSLER said he was intrigued by this bill. 6:19:33 PM REPRESENTATIVE EASTMAN commented that like many of his constituents, he looked at the trend in the state and the effectiveness of its current primary process and the relatively new trend of people running in primaries and then resigning or moving to a different ticket, and said he could not imagine that this happens often in a lot of other states. Due to that issue, there is a desire to step away from that trend and this bill might become a vehicle to do that, except he does not support the bill's current language. 6:20:56 PM REPRESENTATIVE LEDOUX pointed out that this is the third committee hearing on this bill and; therefore, it could not be said that this bill was being fast tracked. REPRESENTATIVE LEDOUX, in response to comments made in a previous committee hearing, offered to make available a memorandum from Legislative Council directed to Legislative Legal and Research Services advising how it is to prioritize its work. She expressed there is nothing in that memorandum to suggest that minority amendments [or requests] be placed at the bottom of the barrel. REPRESENTATIVE LEDOUX advised that for the reasons previously stated, this is a good bill and she would appreciate moving it to the next committee of referral. 6:22:09 PM REPRESENTATIVE FANSLER moved to report CSHB 200, Version 30- LS0038\U out of committee with individual recommendations and the accompanying fiscal notes. REPRESENTATIVE REINBOLD objected. 6:22:23 PM A roll call vote was taken. Representatives Kreiss-Tomkins, LeDoux, Fansler, and Claman voted in favor of moving CSHB 200 out of committee. Representatives Reinbold, Kopp, and Eastman voted against it. Therefore, CSHB 200(JUD) was reported out of the House Judiciary Standing Committee by a vote of 4-3.