The number of elections in Alaska ( Iñupiaq: ''Alaaskam naliġagviat'') varies by year, but typically municipal elections occur every year, plus primary and general elections for federal and state offices occur during even-numbered years.

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S. ...

has a gubernatorial election every four years. Members of the state's United States congressional delegation run for election or re-election at the times set out in the United States Constitution. Primary elections assist in choosing political parties' nominees for various positions. On a regional basis (see list of boroughs and census areas in Alaska), elections also cover municipal issues. In addition, a

special election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

can occur at any time. In a 2020 study, Alaska was ranked as the 15th hardest state for citizens to vote in.

Primary elections

, registered voters in Alaska were given a choice between three primary ballots reflecting a semi-closed primary system. Specifically, Democratic, Libertarian, Alaskan Independence and Independent candidates were listed on one ballot available to all registered voters and Republican candidates were listed on a second ballot available to voters registered as Republican, Nonpartisan or Undeclared. In 2020, Alaskan voters approved an initiative to implement a nonpartisan blanket top-four primary with a single, open primary where candidates from all parties are listed on the ballot and the top four vote getters advance to the general election. The first elections using the new system will be the 2022 election cycle.

Alaska elections

* 2012 Alaska elections

Ballot measures

Presidential elections

Alaskans have voted in

United States presidential election The election of the president and the vice president of the United States is an indirect election in which citizens of the United States who are registered to vote in one of the fifty U.S. states or in Washington, D.C., cast ballots not dir ...

s since 1960. With the exception of the candidacy of Barry Goldwater in 1964, the Republican Party has carried Alaska in every presidential election.

United States congressional delegation elections

United States Senate elections

Alaska has a Class II Senator (currently Dan Sullivan) and a Class III Senator (currently Lisa Murkowski). Alaska first elected Senators in 1956 under the "Alaska–Tennessee Plan." They had no vote in the Senate, but were sent to represent Alaska as if they were, to lobby for statehood, and to assume the office of senator should the situation arise. Alaska's first voting senators were elected in the 1958 election; it was a special election due to the former territory's pending admission as a state.

Class II Senate elections

* 1960 United States Senate election in Alaska * 1966 United States Senate election in Alaska * 1972 United States Senate election in Alaska * 1978 United States Senate election in Alaska * 1984 United States Senate election in Alaska * 1990 United States Senate election in Alaska * 1996 United States Senate election in Alaska * 2002 United States Senate election in Alaska * 2008 United States Senate election in Alaska * 2014 United States Senate election in Alaska *

2020 United States Senate election in Alaska The 2020 United States Senate election in Alaska was held on November 3, 2020, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the State of Alaska, concurrently with the nationwide presidential election, as well as other elections ...

Class III Senate elections

* 1962 United States Senate election in Alaska * 1968 United States Senate election in Alaska * 1974 United States Senate election in Alaska * 1980 United States Senate election in Alaska * 1986 United States Senate election in Alaska * 1992 United States Senate election in Alaska * 1998 United States Senate election in Alaska *

2004 United States Senate election in Alaska The 2004 United States Senate election in Alaska took place on November 2, 2004, alongside other elections to the United States Senate in other states as well as elections to the United States House of Representatives, various state and local ele ...

2010 United States Senate election in Alaska The 2010 United States Senate election in Alaska took place on November 2, 2010, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the State of Alaska, alongside 33 U.S. Senate elections in other states, elections in all states for th ...

* 2016 United States Senate election in Alaska *'' 2022 United States Senate election in Alaska''

United States House of Representatives elections

Gubernatorial elections

* 1958 Alaska gubernatorial election * 1962 Alaska gubernatorial election *

1966 Alaska gubernatorial election The 1966 Alaska gubernatorial election took place on November 8, 1966, for the post of Governor of Alaska. Republican challenger Wally Hickel narrowly defeated incumbent Democratic governor William A. Egan, falling just 3 votes short of an ov ...

* 1970 Alaska gubernatorial election * 1974 Alaska gubernatorial election * 1978 Alaska gubernatorial election * 1982 Alaska gubernatorial election * 1986 Alaska gubernatorial election *

1990 Alaska gubernatorial election The 1990 Alaska gubernatorial election took place on November 6, 1990, for the open seat of Governor of Alaska. In 1989, incumbent Governor Steve Cowper, a Democrat, had announced that he would not seek re-election for a second term. In a rare ...

1994 Alaska gubernatorial election File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...

* 1998 Alaska gubernatorial election * 2002 Alaska gubernatorial election * 2006 Alaska gubernatorial election * 2010 Alaska gubernatorial election * 2014 Alaska gubernatorial election * 2018 Alaska gubernatorial election * 2022 Alaska gubernatorial election

Alaska Legislature elections

Alaska Senators have terms of four years; half of them are elected every two years. Alaska Representatives have terms of two years; all of them are elected every two years. The state's redistricting process allows the power to shorten the terms of state senators should a redistricting action substantially alter their district. * 1994 Alaska state elections * 1996 Alaska state elections *

1998 Alaska state elections 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

* 2000 Alaska state elections * 2002 Alaska state elections * 2004 Alaska state elections * 2006 Alaska state elections * 2008 Alaska state elections * 2010 Alaska state elections * 2012 Alaska state elections * 2014 Alaska state elections * 2016 Alaska state elections

Municipal elections

Virtually all of the state's municipalities hold their general elections in early October, with the notable exception of Anchorage.

North Pole The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth's rotation, Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True North Pole to distingu ...

for many years held their elections in November, in the process holding them on the same day as state elections on even-numbered years, but eventually abandoned that in favor of October elections. Anchorage switched from an early October election day to one in early April around 1992.

Political parties

There are four qualified political parties. * Democratic Party (see also Alaska Democratic Party) * Libertarian Party * Republican Party (see also Alaska Republican Party) *

Alaskan Independence Party The Alaskan Independence Party (AKIP) is an Alaskan nationalist political party that advocates an in-state referendum which would include the option of Alaska becoming an independent country. The party also advocates positions similar to those ...

Lawsuits launched by

Joe Vogler Joseph E. Vogler (April 24, 1913 – ) was the founder of the Alaskan Independence Party. He was also chair or gubernatorial nominee during most of the party's existence. He was also known, originally in his adopted hometown of Fairbanks, Alaska ...

and Jim Sykes, among other lawsuits, led the

Alaska Legislature The Alaska Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is a bicameral institution consisting of the 40-member Alaska House of Representatives (lower house) and the 20-member Alaska Senate (upper house). There are 40 Ho ...

to eventually revamp and relax laws pertaining to party status and ballot access. The first instance of a minor party gaining recognition came in 1982, when the gubernatorial candidacy of Dick Randolph under the Libertarian Party was successful enough to meet the existing party recognition threshold.

References

External links

Alaska Division of Elections
''official website'' * * * * (State affiliate of the U.S. League of Women Voters) * {{Alaska Government of Alaska