SB 179: "An Act relating to ranked-choice voting; and reducing the number of candidates in a general election from four to three."
00 SENATE BILL NO. 179 01 "An Act relating to ranked-choice voting; and reducing the number of candidates in a 02 general election from four to three." 03 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 04 * Section 1. AS 15.15.030 is amended to read: 05 Sec. 15.15.030. Preparation of official ballot. The director shall prepare all 06 official ballots to facilitate fairness, simplicity, and clarity in the voting procedure, to 07 reflect most accurately the intent of the voter, and to expedite the administration of 08 elections. The following directives shall be followed when applicable: 09 (1) The director shall determine the size of the ballot, the type of print, 10 necessary additional instruction notes to voters, and other similar matters of form not 11 provided by law. 12 (2) The director shall number ballots in series to ensure simplicity and 13 secrecy and to prevent fraud. 14 (3) The director shall contract for the preparation of ballots under
01 AS 36.30 (State Procurement Code). 02 (4) The director may not include on the ballot, as a part of a candidate's 03 name, any honorary or assumed title or prefix but may include in the candidate's name 04 any nickname or familiar form of a proper name of the candidate. 05 (5) The names of the candidates shall be placed in separate sections on 06 the state general election ballot under the office designation to which they were 07 nominated. If a candidate is registered as affiliated with a political party or political 08 group, the party affiliation, if any, may be designated after the name of the candidate, 09 upon request of the candidate. If a candidate has requested designation as nonpartisan 10 or undeclared, that designation shall be placed after the name of the candidate. If a 11 candidate is not registered as affiliated with a political party or political group and has 12 not requested to be designated as nonpartisan or undeclared, the candidate shall be 13 designated as undeclared. The lieutenant governor and the governor shall be included 14 under the same section. Provision shall be made for voting for write-in candidates 15 within each section. Paper ballots for the state general election shall be printed on 16 white paper. 17 (6) The names of the candidates for each office shall be set out in the 18 same order on ballots printed for use in each house district. The director shall 19 randomly determine the order of the names of the candidates for state representative 20 for each house district. The director shall rotate the order of placement of the names of 21 candidates for governor, lieutenant governor, United States senator, United States 22 representative, and state senator on the ballot for each house district. 23 (7) The general election ballot shall be designed with the names of 24 candidates of each political party, and of any independent candidates qualified under 25 AS 15.30.026, for the office of President and Vice-President of the United States 26 placed in the same section on the ballot rather than the names of electors of President 27 and Vice-President. 28 (8) The general or special election ballot shall be designed with the 29 title and proposition for any initiative, referendum, or constitutional amendment 30 formulated as prescribed by law and placed on the ballot in the manner prescribed by 31 the director. When placed on the ballot, a state ballot proposition or ballot question
01 shall carry the number that was assigned to the petition for the proposition or question. 02 Provision shall be made for marking the proposition "Yes" or "No." 03 (9) The general or special election ballot shall be designed with the 04 question of whether a constitutional convention shall be called placed on the ballot in 05 the following manner: "Shall there be a constitutional convention?" Provision shall be 06 made for marking the question "Yes" or "No." 07 (10) A nonpartisan ballot shall be designed for each judicial district in 08 which a justice or judge is seeking retention in office. The ballot shall be divided into 09 four parts. Each part must bear a heading indicating the court to which the candidate is 10 seeking approval, and provision shall be made for marking each question "Yes" or 11 "No." Within each part, the question of whether the justice or judge shall be approved 12 or rejected shall be set out in substantially the following manner: 13 (A) "Shall . . . . . . . be retained as justice of the supreme court 14 for 10 years?"; 15 (B) "Shall . . . . . . . be retained as judge of the court of appeals 16 for eight years?"; 17 (C) "Shall . . . . . . . be retained as judge of the superior court 18 for six years?"; or 19 (D) "Shall . . . . . . . be retained as judge of the district court for 20 four years?" 21 (11) When the legislature by law authorizes a state debt for capital 22 improvements, the director shall place the question of whether the specific 23 authorization shall be ratified by placing the ballot title and question on the next 24 general election ballot, or on the special election ballot if a special election is held for 25 the purpose of ratifying the state debt for capital improvements before the time of the 26 next general election. Unless specifically provided otherwise in the Act authorizing 27 the debt, the ballot title shall, by the use of a few words in a succinct manner, indicate 28 the general subject of the Act. The question shall, by the use of a few sentences in a 29 succinct manner, give a true and impartial summary of the Act authorizing the state 30 debt. The question of whether state debt shall be contracted shall be assigned a letter 31 of the alphabet on the ballot. Provision shall be made for marking the question
01 substantially as follows: 02 "Bonds. . . . . . . Yes" or "Bonds. . . . . . . No," 03 followed by an appropriate oval. 04 (12) The director may provide for the optical scanning of ballots where 05 the requisite equipment is available. 06 (13) The director may provide for voting by use of electronically 07 generated ballots by a voter who requests to use a machine that produces electronically 08 generated ballots. 09 (14) The director shall include the following statement on the ballot: 10 A candidate's designated affiliation does not imply that the 11 candidate is nominated or endorsed by the political party or group or 12 that the party or group approves of or associates with that candidate, 13 but only that the candidate is registered as affiliated with the political 14 party or political group. 15 (15) Instead of the statement provided by (14) of this section, when 16 candidates for President and Vice-President of the United States appear on a general 17 election ballot, the director shall include the following statement on the ballot: 18 A candidate's designated affiliation does not imply that the 19 candidate is nominated or endorsed by the political party or political 20 group or that the political party or political group approves of or 21 associates with that candidate, but only that the candidate is registered 22 as affiliated with the party or group. The election for President and 23 Vice-President of the United States is different. Some candidates for 24 President and Vice-President are the official nominees of their political 25 party. 26 (16) The director shall design the general election ballots so that the 27 candidates are selected by ranked-choice voting. 28 (17) The director shall design the general election ballot to direct the 29 voter to mark up to two candidates in order of preference [AND TO MARK AS 30 MANY CHOICES AS THE VOTER WISHES], but not to assign the same ranking to 31 more than one candidate for the same office.
01 * Sec. 2. AS 15.15.350(e) is amended to read: 02 (e) When counting general election ballots, 03 (1) a ballot containing an overvote shall be considered an inactive 04 ballot once the overvote is encountered at the highest ranking for a continuing 05 candidate; 06 (2) if a ballot skips a ranking, then the election board shall count the 07 next ranking [. IF THE NEXT RANKING IS ANOTHER SKIPPED RANKING, THE 08 BALLOT SHALL BE CONSIDERED AN INACTIVE BALLOT ONCE THE 09 SECOND SKIPPED RANKING IS ENCOUNTERED]; and 10 (3) in the event of a tie between the final two continuing candidates, 11 the procedures in AS 15.15.460 and AS 15.20.430 - 15.20.530 shall apply to 12 determine the winner of the general election; in the event of a tie between two 13 candidates with the fewest votes, the tie shall be resolved by lot to determine which 14 candidate is defeated. 15 * Sec. 3. AS 15.25.010 is amended to read: 16 Sec. 15.25.010. Provision for primary election. Candidates for the elective 17 state executive and state and national legislative offices shall be nominated in a 18 primary election by direct vote of the people in the manner prescribed by this chapter. 19 The primary election does not serve to determine the nominee of a political party or 20 political group but serves only to narrow the number of candidates whose names will 21 appear on the ballot at the general election. Except as provided in AS 15.25.100(d), 22 only the three [FOUR] candidates who receive the greatest number of votes for any 23 office shall advance to the general election. 24 * Sec. 4. AS 15.25.100(a) is amended to read: 25 (a) Except as provided in (b) - (g) of this section, of the names of candidates 26 that appear on the primary election ballot under AS 15.25.010, the director shall place 27 on the general election ballot only the names of the three [FOUR] candidates 28 receiving the greatest number of votes for an office. For purposes of this subsection 29 and (b) of this section, candidates for lieutenant governor and governor are treated as a 30 single paired unit. 31 * Sec. 5. AS 15.25.100(b) is amended to read:
01 (b) If two candidates tie in having the third [FOURTH] greatest number of 02 votes for an office in the primary election, the director shall determine under (g) of 03 this section which candidate's name shall appear on the general election ballot. 04 * Sec. 6. AS 15.25.100(c) is amended to read: 05 (c) Except as otherwise provided in (d) of this section, if a candidate 06 nominated at the primary election dies, withdraws, resigns, becomes disqualified from 07 holding office for which the candidate is nominated, or is certified as being 08 incapacitated in the manner prescribed by this section after the primary election and 64 09 or more days before the general election, the vacancy shall be filled by the director by 10 replacing the withdrawn candidate with the candidate who received the fourth 11 [FIFTH] most votes in the primary election. 12 * Sec. 7. AS 15.58.020(a) is amended to read: 13 (a) Each general election pamphlet must contain 14 (1) photographs and campaign statements submitted by eligible 15 candidates for elective office in the region; 16 (2) information and recommendations filed under AS 15.58.050 on 17 judicial officers subject to a retention election in the region; 18 (3) a map of the house district or districts of the region; 19 (4) sample ballots for house districts of the region; 20 (5) an absentee ballot application; 21 (6) for each ballot proposition submitted to the voters by initiative or 22 referendum petition or by the legislature, 23 (A) the full text of the proposition specifying constitutional or 24 statutory provisions proposed to be affected; 25 (B) the ballot title and the summary of the proposition prepared 26 by the director or by the lieutenant governor; 27 (C) a statement of the costs to the state of implementing the law 28 proposed in an initiative, or of voter approval or rejection of the act that is the 29 subject of a referendum; 30 (D) a neutral summary of the proposition prepared by the 31 Legislative Affairs Agency;
01 (E) statements submitted that advocate voter approval or 02 rejection of the proposition not to exceed 500 words; 03 (7) for each bond question, a statement of the scope of each project as 04 it appears in the bond authorization; 05 (8) a maximum of two pages of material submitted under 06 AS 15.58.040 by each political party; 07 (9) additional information on voting procedures that the lieutenant 08 governor considers necessary; 09 (10) for the question whether a constitutional convention shall be 10 called, 11 (A) a full statement of the question placed on the ballot; 12 (B) statements not to exceed 500 words that advocate voter 13 approval or rejection of the question; 14 (11) under AS 37.13.170, the Alaska permanent fund annual income 15 statement and balance sheet for the two fiscal years preceding the publication of the 16 election pamphlet; 17 (12) under AS 15.10.090, notice of 18 (A) the establishment or abolition of a precinct; 19 (B) the designation, abolition, or modification of precinct 20 boundaries; and 21 (C) a change in the location of a polling place; 22 (13) the following statement written in bold in a conspicuous location: 23 Each candidate may designate the political party or political 24 group that the candidate is registered as affiliated with. A candidate's 25 political party or political group designation on a ballot does not imply 26 that the candidate is nominated or endorsed by the party or political 27 group or that the party or group approves of or associates with that 28 candidate. 29 In each race, you may vote for any candidate listed. If a primary 30 election was held for a state office, United States senator, or United 31 States representative, the three [FOUR] candidates who received the
01 most votes for the office in the primary election advanced to the 02 general election. However, if one of the three [FOUR] candidates who 03 received the most votes for an office at the primary election died, 04 withdrew, resigned, was disqualified, or was certified as incapacitated 05 64 days or more before the general election, the candidate who received 06 the fourth [FIFTH] most votes for the office advanced to the general 07 election. 08 At the general election, each candidate will be selected through 09 a ranked-choice voting process and the candidate with the greatest 10 number of votes will be elected. For a general election, you must rank 11 the candidates in the numerical order of your preference, ranking up to 12 two [AS MANY] candidates [AS YOU WISH]. Your second [, 13 THIRD, AND SUBSEQUENT] ranked choice [CHOICES] will be 14 counted only if the candidate you ranked first does not receive enough 15 votes to continue on to the next round of counting, so ranking a second 16 [, THIRD, OR SUBSEQUENT CHOICE] will not hurt your first- 17 choice candidate. Your ballot will be counted regardless of whether you 18 choose to rank one or [,] two [, OR MORE] candidates for each office, 19 but it will not be counted if you assign the same ranking to more than 20 one candidate for the same office. 21 * Sec. 8. AS 15.58.020(c) is amended to read: 22 (c) Notwithstanding (a) of this section, if a pamphlet is prepared and published 23 under AS 15.58.010 for a 24 (1) primary election, the pamphlet must contain the following 25 statement written in bold in a conspicuous location, instead of the statement provided 26 by (a)(13) of this section: 27 In each race, you may vote for any candidate listed. The three 28 [FOUR] candidates who receive the most votes for a state office, 29 United States senator, or United States representative will advance to 30 the general election. However, if, after the primary election and 64 days 31 or more before the general election, one of the three [FOUR]
01 candidates who received the most votes for an office at the primary 02 election dies, withdraws, resigns, is disqualified, or is certified as 03 incapacitated, the candidate who received the fourth [FIFTH] most 04 votes for the office will advance to the general election. 05 Each candidate may designate the political party or political group that the candidate is 06 registered as affiliated with. A candidate's political party or political group designation on a 07 ballot does not imply that the candidate is nominated or endorsed by the party or group or that 08 the party or group approves of or associates with that candidate; 09 (2) special primary election, the pamphlet must contain the following 10 statement written in bold in a conspicuous location, instead of the statement provided 11 by (a)(13) of this section: 12 In each race, you may vote for any candidate listed. The three 13 [FOUR] candidates who receive the most votes for a state office or 14 United States senator will advance to the special election. However, if, 15 after the special primary election and 64 days or more before the 16 special election, one of the three [FOUR] candidates who received the 17 most votes for a state office or United States senator at the primary 18 election dies, withdraws, resigns, is disqualified, or is certified as 19 incapacitated, the candidate who received the fourth [FIFTH] most 20 votes for the office will advance to the general election. Each candidate 21 may designate the political party or political group that the candidate is 22 registered as affiliated with. A candidate's political party or political 23 group designation on a ballot does not imply that the candidate is 24 nominated or endorsed by the party or group or that the party or group 25 approves of or associates with that candidate.