00 SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 36                                                                                          
01 Proposing amendments to the Constitution of the State of Alaska requiring that                                          
02 candidates for governor and candidates for lieutenant governor receive more than                                        
03 50 percent of the votes cast to be elected and changing the term of office of                                           
04 the governor and the lieutenant governor.                                                                               
05 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                               
06    * Section 1.  Article III, sec. 3, Constitution of the State of Alaska, is amended to read:                          
07  SECTION 3.  ELECTION.  The governor shall be chosen by the qualified                                                  
08 voters of the State at a general election.  The candidate receiving more than fifty                                    
09 percent of the total [THE GREATEST] number of votes cast for governor shall be                                       
10 governor.  If a candidate does not receive more than fifty percent of the votes cast                                   
11 for governor, a runoff election between the two candidates receiving the greatest                                       
12 number of votes cast shall be held twenty-eight days after the general election.                                        
13 At the runoff election, write-in ballots shall not be counted.  In calculating the                                      
14 percentage of the votes cast at the general election and at a runoff election, only                                     
01 votes that have been properly marked for a candidate for governor shall be                                              
02 counted.                                                                                                               
03    * Sec. 2.  Article III, sec. 4, Constitution of the State of Alaska, is amended to read:   SECTION 4.  TERM OF      
04 OFFICE.  If a runoff election is required to elect                                                                     
05 a governor, then the [THE] term of office of the governor begins [IS FOUR YEARS,                                     
06 BEGINNING] at noon on the first day of January immediately after the election.                                         
07 Otherwise, the term of office of the governor begins at noon on the first Monday                                       
08 in December following the governor's [HIS] election.  The term of the governor                                     
09 ends when the governor's elected successor commences in office on a date                                                
10 determined under this section.  Election for governor occurs every four years                                          
11 [AND ENDING AT NOON ON THE FIRST MONDAY IN DECEMBER FOUR                                                                
12 YEARS LATER].                                                                                                           
13    * Sec. 3.  Article III, sec. 8, Constitution of the State of Alaska, is amended to read:                             
14  SECTION 8.  SAME ELECTION.  The lieutenant governor shall be nominated                                                
15 in the manner provided by law for nominating candidates for other elective offices.                                     
16 In the general election and in any runoff election the votes cast for a candidate for                                 
17 governor shall be considered as cast also for the candidate for lieutenant governor                                     
18 running jointly with him.  The candidate whose name appears on the ballot jointly with                                  
19 that of the successful candidate for governor shall be elected lieutenant governor.                                     
20   * Sec. 4.  Article XV, Constitution of the State of Alaska, is amended by adding a new                                
21 section to read:                                                                                                        
22  SECTION 29.  TRANSITIONAL PROVISION APPLICABLE TO                                                                     
23 AMENDMENT OF ARTICLE III, SECTION 4.  The term of office of the governor                                                
24 elected at the general election in 1994 ends at noon on the first Monday in December                                    
25 four years later unless, under Section 3 of Article III, a runoff election is required, in                              
26 which case the term of office of the governor ends at noon on the first day of January                                  
27 1999.                                                                                                                   
28    * Sec. 5.  The amendments proposed by this resolution shall be placed before the voters of                           
29 the state at the next general election in conformity with art. XIII, sec. 1, Constitution of the                        
30 State of Alaska, and the election laws of the state.