Party opponents square off

On the other hand, by Tammy Troyer

On Aug. 27, Valley voters will experience one of the numerous mistakes committed by the current crop of state legislators: The six-ballot primary. Traditionally, all candidates running for state offices in Alaska were listed on the same primary ballot. Alaskans were free to vote their conscience and select the best possible candidate for each office. A Valley resident could vote for Jay Kerttula, a Democrat, for State Senate and for Jay Hammond, a Republican, for governor. This completely open, "blanket primary," was well suited for the independently minded Alaskan voter. Unfettered by partisan limitations, Alaskans were free to cast honest votes at each and every election.

Unfortunately, the Republican Party of Alaska has succeeded, through the Republican-led Legislature, in ending the blanket primary. Alaskans on primary election day will be limited to voting for candidates of one, and only one, party. Non-partisan voters will be forced to select one of six possible ballots. Each ballot will contain the candidates of one, and only one, of the six political parties registered in Alaska. Voters who are registered with a party will not even have an option to choose a ballot. Are you a member of Republicans for Fran Ulmer? Sorry, by law you are now prohibited from voting for her at the primary election. If you are a registered member of a political party, you are now barred from voting for members of other parties on primary day.

Even "write-in" candidacies are now banned. If you support non-partisan Peter Burchell in his race, it is illegal for you to write in his name on any primary ballot. Under the new law, you will have "spoiled" your ballot by daring to write in a name on a party ballot. Why doesn't the Republican Party just hang a sign over each polling place on Aug. 27 that reads, "You are now entering Communist Russia. The year is 1984."

The Republican Party likes to compare itself to a private club and note that Rotarians are not permitted to elect the officers of the Kiwanis. Last time I checked, however, neither the Rotary nor the Kiwanis uses public money to finance elections. The Republican Party, however, expects the state to pay the full bill for conducting the primary election. If the Republican Party wants the Republican primary election to be an invitation-only, private affair, then the Republican Party should pay for it.

Furthermore, while the Republicans have the right to close their primary, the Republican dominated Legislature should never have voted to close all primaries. The Republican legislative majority refused to adopt a compromise solution offered by the bi-partisan task force of former attorneys general and lieutenant governors appointed by Lt. Gov. Fran Ulmer that would have permitted the Republican Party to have a closed primary while enabling all other parties to continue with the traditionally more open single-ballot process. The Republican Party is the only party in Alaska that wanted to end the blanket primary, yet all parties and the Division of Elections must now kowtow before the Republican Party in its misguided quest to turn the public primary into a private affair.

Voters should not boycott the six-ballot primary. If anything, they should boycott the Republican Party that seeks to destroy whatever traditions stand between it and the acquisition of more power.

Tammy Troyer is a resident of Anchorage.