A decision about whether independents may appear on the Alaska Democratic Party’s fall primary election ballot is now in the hands of Juneau Superior Court Judge Louis James Menendez.
On Friday, Assistant Attorney General Margaret Paton-Walsh and attorney Jon Choate, representing the Democratic Party, presented oral arguments about the state’s attempt to dismiss a lawsuit brought by the party.
In January, the Democratic Party asked the state to allow independents onto its primary election ballot.
So far, only U.S. Senate candidate Margaret Stock has expressed interest.
“I’d run as an independent in the Republican primary, if the Republican Party would allow it, but they don’t,” she said, adding that a primary victory is one way to get onto the general election ballot and get her name in front of voters.
In February, Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott (himself a Democrat-turned-independent) turned down the party’s request, saying state law prohibits independents from participating in a party primary.
The party then sued.
“It’s clear we have a Constitutional right to allow independents, who can already vote in our Primary, to compete for our endorsement in the Democratic Primary, and to give voters more choices,” party chairwoman Casey Steinau said when the lawsuit was filed in late February.
In support of the lawsuit, independent U.S. Senate candidate Margaret Stock has filed an affidavit saying she intends to run against Sen. Lisa Murkowski as an independent on the Democratic ballot.
The state is seeking to have the lawsuit dismissed because, as Paton-Walsh argued, the Democratic Party hasn’t even approved its own rules permitting independents to run on the Democratic ticket. That won’t happen until the party convention in May.
“Because the convention can reject the rule change independent of this court’s opinion, this case is just not ripe,” Paton-Walsh said.
Choate, arguing on behalf of the party, said “elections happen with hard deadlines,” and waiting until after May for the lawsuit would put both the party and the state at a disadvantage.
Without an early decision, “the alternative would be basically to encourage 11th-hour challenges to the law,” Choate said.
A Democratic Party victory in the lawsuit would require the state to change its plans for the fall election. Starting Jan. 1, Alaska voters are allowed to request absentee ballots, and as part of the process, they can select one of three options: a Republican ballot, a ballot measure-only ballot, or a ballot with choices from the Libertarian, Democratic and Alaskan Independence parties.
Because the latter three operate under the same primary rules, they can share the ballot. Were the Democratic Party to change its rules, it would get a separate ballot.
As of Friday, according to figures from the Alaska Division of Elections, there have been 1,869 absentee ballot applications. A Democratic victory would require those applications to be repeated.
Menendez is expected to issue his decision next week on the state’s request to throw out the lawsuit. If he denies the state’s request, the lawsuit will continue. If he approves the state’s request, the Democratic Party might try again after the state convention in May.
