Opinion ID: 1130044
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: alaska's blanket primary and voter registration patterns

Text: A discussion of the constitutionality of state primary elections must begin with an explanation of the three major types of primary election systems. They are the closed primary, the open primary, and the blanket or nonpartisan primary. The defining feature of a closed primary is that only members of a given political party may participate in the party's primary election. Some closed primaries require affiliation with the party for a period of time prior to the primary election, while in others a voter may declare an affiliation at the time of voting in the primary. Tashjian v. Republican Party of Connecticut, 479 U.S. 208, 222 n. 11, 107 S.Ct. 544, 553 n. 11, 93 L.Ed.2d 514 (1986). In an open primary, any voter may vote for candidates for any party's nomination, but the voter may only vote for candidates running for one party's nomination. Id. In a blanket primary, any voter may also vote for candidates for any party's nomination, but the voter may vote for candidates for the nomination of different political parties for various offices. Id. Thus, in Alaska's blanket primary a registered Republican might vote for an Alaskan Independence Party candidate for Governor, a Republican for United States House of Representatives, and a Democrat for State Senate. In 1986 the United States Supreme Court identified thirty-seven states with closed primaries of one sort or another, nine states with open primaries, and four states, including Alaska, with blanket primaries, called by the Supreme Court nonpartisan primaries. Id. The RPA primary conducted under the stipulation in Zawacki is referred to by RPA as a partially-closed primary. This seems apt since the primary is not a classic closed primary in that unaffiliated voters are allowed to participate, yet it does not meet the definition of an open primary, since it is not open to all registered voters. Under the blanket primary system, Alaska's political parties have no formal role in the selection of candidates for the general election. [6] , [7] Any person may declare him or herself to be a candidate of a party in the primary election upon meeting certain prescribed legal requirements. The candidate must be a member of the political party. This, by definition, means a person who supports the political program of a party. AS 15.60.010(15). The candidate must be registered to vote as a member of the political party under whose name the candidate seeks nomination. AS 15.25.030(a)(16). Registration can be accomplished on the day of the declaration. AS 15.07.040. All the candidates for a given office are listed on a single ballot with their party affiliation. Any voter, regardless of party affiliation, may vote for any candidate. Where there are two or more candidates seeking nomination under a single party's name, the candidate who receives the most votes advances to the general election. [8] , [9] The blanket primary was first enacted in Alaska in 1947 following a referendum. Memorandum from Gordon S. Harrison, Director, Legislative Research Agency, Research Request 90.294 (May 23, 1990). The subsequent history of the blanket primary is related by Harrison: Increasingly, ... the question of the blanket primary became a partisan issue. Democrats tended to oppose it; Republicans to support it. Democrats believed that it eroded what little party loyalty and discipline existed in Alaska, and they thought the Republicans used it to their advantage by crossing party lines in the primary to elect the weakest Democratic candidate. Republicans supported the blanket primary in hopes that Republican candidates would benefit by attracting conservative Democrats and non-aligned voters. Despite the overall partisan flavor that the issue was to acquire (with Republicans for and Democrats against the blanket primary), opposition existed on the part of some Republicans, and support existed on the part of some Democrats. In general, party stalwarts and those who believe in the importance of strong parties in the political process, opposed and continue to oppose the blanket primary. Those who are not firmly aligned with a political party, and who believe that the voter should have maximum independence in balloting matters, support the blanket primary. Party loyalty has not been strong in Alaska, and legislators from both parties have responded to widespread public support for the blanket primary. In the first session of the first state legislature in 1959, when Democrats firmly controlled both houses and the governor's office, the blanket primary was replaced by the single ballot open primary. Adoption of the comprehensive election code in 1960 incorporated this change. Republicans led the opposition to the single ballot open primary, although many Democrats also sought a return to the blanket primary. Several bills were introduced to restore the blanket primary, but they languished in Democratic-controlled committees. In 1966, during the second session of the Fourth Legislature, a blanket primary bill passed the House and almost passed the Senate. Senate debate on the measure was reported in the Anchorage Daily Times. Democrats Jim Nolan of Wrangell, Robert Blodgett of Teller, and Robert Ziegler of Ketchikan spoke in favor of the bill. Senator Blodgett is quoted saying: The Democratic party is a hollow shell. The Republican party is a hollow shell. How many people actually are active workers in the two parties? Darned few. I support the bill. Senator Ziegler is reported to have said: The measure is vitally important to the people of this state. In Ketchikan, probably nine of every ten voters want to vote for the man, not the party. Despite this bipartisan show of support, the bill failed to pass the Senate. The general election of 1966 broke the Democratic monopoly on legislative power which had existed since the 1950s: Republican majorities were elected to both Houses and Republican Walter Hickel was elected governor. The blanket primary was thereupon restored during the first session of the Fifth Legislature. The bill to restore the blanket primary was introduced at the request of Governor Hickel, but it attracted considerable bipartisan support. Among the 35 yeas in the House, nine were cast by Democrats; of the five nays, four were cast by Democrats. In the Senate the bill received 18 yeas, four of which were cast by Democrats. Both nays in the Senate were cast by Democrats. The blanket primary seems to suit Alaska, where party ties and party organizations are weak. However, some Democratic and Republican party loyalists, who lament the decline of political parties, prefer a more conventional (open or closed) primary that restricts voters to casting ballots for one party's candidates. Id. (footnotes omitted). In 1994 [10] there were 340,464 registered voters in Alaska. Of these more than 182,000 voters were registered as nonpartisan or undeclared. By contrast, there were 78,212 registered Republicans, 59,782 registered Democrats, 12,936 registered Alaskan Independence Party members, 2,558 Green Party members, and 4,595 other party members. Thus approximately fifty-four percent of all registered voters in Alaska were nonpartisan or undeclared, whereas approximately twenty-three percent were registered Republicans and approximately eighteen percent were registered Democrats.