Alaska 2020 ballot measures

Elections in Alaska, 2020

• Election date: Nov. 3
• Registration deadline(s): Oct. 4
• Online registration: Yes
• Same-day registration: No
• Recount laws

• Early voting starts: Oct. 19
• Absentee/mail voting deadline(s): Nov. 3 (postmarked); Nov. 13 (received)
• Processing, counting, and challenging absentee/mail-in ballots
• Voter ID: Non-photo ID
• Poll times: 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

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2020 Alaska Ballot Measures
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Two statewide ballot measures were certified for the ballot in Alaska for the election on November 3, 2020.

HIGHLIGHTS

Ballot Measure 1 would have increased taxes on at least three oil production fields—Alpine, Kuparuk, and Prudhoe Bay—in the North Slope. Companies that operate these fields, including BP, Conoco Phillips, ExxonMobil, and Hilcorp Energy, formed a political action committee to oppose the proposal.

Ballot Measure 2 made Alaska the first state to adopt top-four primaries for state executive, state legislative, and congressional offices, and the second state to use ranked-choice voting for some federal and state offices.

On the ballot

Type	Title	Subject	Description	Result
IndISS	Ballot Measure 1	Taxes	Increases taxes on certain oil production in the North Slope	d
IndISS	Ballot Measure 2	Elections and campaigns	Changes to Alaska's election policies, including top-four primaries, ranked-choice voting, and campaign finance laws	a

Summary of campaign contributions

See also: Ballot measure campaign finance, 2020

The following chart illustrates how much support and opposition committees received in campaign contributions for each measure on the ballot:

Ballot Measure	Support Contributions	Oppose Contributions	Outcome
Alaska Ballot Measure 1, North Slope Oil Production Tax Increase Initiative (2020)	$1,659,139.00	$20,935,670.86
Alaska Ballot Measure 2, Top-Four Ranked-Choice Voting and Campaign Finance Laws Initiative (2020)	$6,844,544.33	$579,426.18

Getting measures on the ballot

Citizens

As of 2020, residents of Alaska had the power to initiate legislation as a state statute. Residents also had the power to repeal legislation via veto referendum.

In Alaska, signature requirements were equal to 10 percent of the total number of votes cast in the last general election. At least 28,501 valid signatures were required for initiated statues and veto referendums in 2020. Furthermore, proponents needed to collect signatures in each of three-fourths (30) of Alaska's 40 state House districts. Signatures from each of the districts needed to equal 7 percent of the districtwide vote in the last general election.

Resource Development Council for Alaska et al. v. Meyer

On April 10, 2020, six business organizations filed a legal challenge to Lt. Gov. Kevin Meyer's (R) certification of certain signatures for the ballot initiative. Plaintiffs argued that Vote Yes for Alaska’s Fair Share (Vote Yes) paid signature gatherers in excess of the legal maximum, which was $1.00 per signature. As of 2020, Alaska Statutes 15.45.110(c) read, "A circulator may not receive payment or agree to receive payment that is greater than $1 a signature, and a person or an organization may not pay or agree to pay an amount that is greater than $1 a signature, for the collection of signatures on a petition." Vote Yes hired petition-collection firm Advanced Micro Targeting, which offered signature gatherers $3,500 - $4,000 per month for 480 to 600 signatures per week.

Robin Brena, the chairperson of Vote Yes, responded that the law addressed paying circulators for each signature, not paying circulators salaries. He said, "It does not address any other form of payment to circulator. To state the obvious there is no bounty when petition circulators are paid by salary."

On July 16, 2020, Superior Court Judge Thomas A. Matthews dismissed the case. Judge Matthews agreed with the plaintiffs' (six business organizations) interpretation of the law, but stated that Alaska Statutes 15.45.110(c) was unconstitutional. "Petition circulation is core political speech because it involves interactive communication concerning political change, and First Amendment protection for such interaction is therefore at its zenith," wrote Judge Matthews. The Alaska Supreme Court upheld Judge Matthews' ruling on August 31, 2020.

Legislature

The Alaska State Legislature can refer statewide ballot measures, in the form of constitutional amendments and state statutes, to the ballot. In Alaska, the most common form of referred statute is the bond issue.

The Alaska Constitution requires a two-thirds vote in each legislative chamber during one legislative session to refer a constitutional amendment to the ballot. That amounts to a minimum of 27 votes in the Alaska House of Representatives and 14 votes in the Alaska State Senate, assuming no vacancies. Amendments do not require the governor's signature to be referred to the ballot.

Not on the ballot

Type	Title	Subject	Description	Result
IndISS	Alaska Education Policy Initiative	Education	Concerns education policy in Alaska
IndISS	Require the State Legislature to Meet in Anchorage Initiative	Legislature	Requires legislature to meet in Anchorage

Historical facts

See also: List of Alaska ballot measures and History of Initiative & Referendum in Alaska

• A total of 54 measures appeared on statewide ballots in Alaska from 1995 to 2018.
• From 1996 to 2018, the number of measures on even-year statewide ballots ranged from one to seven.
• Between 1996 and 2018, an average of four measures appeared on the ballot in Alaska during even-numbered election years.
• Between 1996 and 2018, 55.77 percent (29 of 52) of the total number of measures that appeared on statewide ballots during even-numbered years were approved, and about 44.23 percent (23 of 52) were defeated.

See also

• 2020 ballot measures
• List of Alaska ballot measures
• Laws governing the initiative process in Alaska
• Alaska Legislature

External links

• Alaska Division of Elections