Primaries:
- Congressional and state primaries: Nonpartisan, Top Four
- Presidential primaries: Closed*
*The Democratic party has amended its primary rules to allow Independent voters to participate.
PRIMARY ELECTIONS STATE BY STATE
Alaska
Registration:
- Optional party affiliation. Voters are given the option to affiliate or not to affiliate with a political party on the registration form.
- 58% of Alaska voters are registered unaffiliated, undeclared or independent.
Details of state and local primary elections:
- Nonpartisan, Top 4: one ballot, available to all registered voters, with each candidate in a given race. The top four vote-getters, regardless of party affiliation, head to the general election. Voters in the general election then can rank candidates by order of preference. A consensus winner is selected if no one wins more than 50% of the first choices.
State Partners:
A diverse group of Alaskans came together to create Alaskans for Better Elections– dedicated to putting Alaskans back in control of their elections and making them “more open, transparent, and fair.” Opening the primaries to all voters is one of the group’s key goals, along with implementing ranked choice voting and campaign finance disclosure. Alaska has the highest number of registered independent voters of any state in the country – 58% of all voters.
In 2020, Alaskans for Better Elections’ Ballot Measure 2 passes! Top four open, nonpartisan primaries enacted:
In 2020, Alaska voters approved a ballot initiative establishing a top-four primary for state executive, state legislative, and congressional elections. The initiative also established ranked-choice voting for general elections for the aforementioned offices and the presidency.
Under Alaska’s top-four primary system, all candidates for a given office run in a single primary election. The top four vote-getters, regardless of partisan affiliation, then advance to the general election.
In general elections, voters rank the four candidates that advanced from the primaries. A candidate needs a simple majority of the vote (50 percent + 1) to be declared the winner of an election. If no candidate wins a simple majority of votes cast, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated from the running. Voters who selected that candidate as their first choice have their votes redistributed to their second choices. The tabulation process continues in rounds until a candidate receives a simple majority.