On Super Tuesday, March 5, Alaska Republicans will join their counterparts in 14 other states and one territory by casting votes for their preferred nominee for president in this November’s general election.
In Alaska, primary elections for president are run by political parties, not the state, and this is the first Republican preference poll since 2016 — Alaska Republicans canceled the 2020 vote in order to throw unanimous support behind then-incumbent President Donald Trump.
Three candidates are on the ballot this year: Trump, Nikki Haley, and Vivek Ramaswamy, who has ended his campaign and endorsed Trump.
Gov. Mike Dunleavy and Lt. Gov. (and U.S. House candidate) Nancy Dahlstrom have endorsed Trump, as has U.S. House candidate Nick Begich. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, has said she hopes Haley wins.
Advertisement
Polling locations
Anchorage (Dist. 9-12): Anchorage Grace Church, 12407 Pintail St.
Anchorage (Dist. 13-17, 19): Jewel Lake Community Church of the Nazarine, 4024 W. 88th Ave.
Anchorage (Dist. 18, 20-22): Mountain City Church (former Anchorage Baptist Temple), 6401 E. Northern Lights Blvd.
Delta Junction: Delta Junction Community Center, 2287 Deborah St.
Eagle River: 12001 Business Blvd.
Fairbanks: Carlson Center, 2010 2nd Ave.
Homer: 3838 Bartlett St.
Juneau: Nugget Mall, 8745 Glacier Hwy.
Kasilof: 51540 Mercantile Ave.
Kenai: 209 Princess Lane
Ketchikan: 2417 Tongass Ave.
Kodiak: 403 West Marine Hwy.
Nikiski: 52075 Marie Ave.
Palmer: 655 South Valley Way
Soldotna: 161 Farnsworth Ave.
Sterling: 35085 Sterling Hwy.
Valdez: Valdez Convention and Civic Center, 314 Clifton Court
Wasilla: Wasilla Senior Center, 1301 Century Circle
Art Hackney, a longtime Alaska campaigner, is chairing the pro-Haley effort in Alaska. He said supporters are calling friends and urging them to call others in support of Haley.
“Right now, we’re just 75 of us making phone calls like crazy and trying to get people to turn out,” he said.
“It’s not likely that we’re going to be victorious, but it’s certainly important that people feel that they can go to the polls and express their support for Nikki,” Hackney said.
Advertisement
Kelly Tshibaka, the Republican who lost to Murkowski in the 2022 general election, is Trump’s campaign chair in Alaska and said the campaign is “sending out texts, emails, endorsements, social media promotions” ahead of Tuesday’s vote.
A Republican candidate needs the support of 1,215 delegates at the national convention in Milwaukee in July to become the party’s nominee.
Through Wednesday, Trump has 122 delegates, Haley 24, and two other candidates (who have since dropped out) have a combined 12 delegates. On Tuesday, 874 delegates are in play, and Alaska accounts for 29 of those, said Republican Party Chair Ann Brown.
Those delegates will be divided according to Tuesday’s vote, she said. If “candidate A” gets 60% of the votes, they’ll get 60% of the delegates.
“The Alaska poll is not a winner-take-all poll,” Brown said.
Advertisement
A candidate needs to get at least 13% of the vote in order to become eligible for any of Alaska’s delegates.
If no candidate at the national convention gets enough support in the first round of voting for a candidate, Alaska’s delegates will become free agents on the second and subsequent rounds of voting.
There is no absentee voting. On Tuesday, 18 polling places will be open across the state from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. Each polling place is designated for voters of the local state House districts, but out-of-district voting is allowed, Brown said.
Only registered Republicans can participate, but voters may change their registration at the polling site, Brown said, then vote.
Voters should be prepared to present a photo ID, such as an Alaska driver’s license, state-issued ID or military ID.
Advertisement
Preliminary results should be available Tuesday night, Brown said. Polling locations are supposed to report their initial results to party headquarters by 9:30 p.m.
The party will post results on its social media pages, she said.
The Alaska Democratic Party’s presidential primary is April 13, and two candidates are currently on the ballot: Dean Phillips and incumbent President Joe Biden.
JUNEAU, Alaska (KTUU) – The Supreme Court of Alaska will be taking up the case of the State of Alaska, Division of Elections v. Daniel J. Sullivan, Jr.
The oral arguments will be held Monday at 10 a.m. via Zoom, according to an order and opening notice.
The document also specifies that a decision is expected to be made before noon on Tuesday.
According to documents from the Division of Elections, the state must start printing ballots at noon on the same day.
Advertisement
This comes after an Anchorage Superior Court Judge ordered Dan J. Sullivan on to the ballot Friday.
See a spelling or grammar error? Report it to web@ktuu.com
A new home under construction in Potter Valley in Anchorage. (Loren Holmes / ADN)
This June, two very different offers reach Alaska families, and both amount to the same thing: $10,000. The difference is everything.
Bill Walker, running for governor, would hand every eligible Alaskan a one-time $10,000 check and then end the Permanent Fund dividend for good. Ask one question: Where does his $10,000 come from?
It comes from the Permanent Fund, the people’s own money and the savings Alaskans built for their children. Walker would spend that endowment once to pay Alaskans to give up the yearly dividend forever.
Think about what that does. It cancels the annual check that gives a family a reason to keep an Alaska address and replaces it with a single payout. You hand people their own savings, call it a gift and cut the tie that held them here in the same motion. It is the oldest mistake in governing money: raid what you have saved to buy a moment’s applause and call the spending generosity.
Advertisement
A plan that spends the people’s savings to send the people away is not bold. It is foolish.
Now consider the other $10,000. Through Alaska Housing Finance Corp., the state offers families up to $10,000 to build a new, energy-efficient home. AHFC raids nothing. It earns its own way. Over the years, it has returned more than $2 billion to the state treasury, and it spends some of that income the way any good business does: to win a customer.
Here, the customer is an Alaskan who wants to own a home, put down roots and stay.
That is the oldest sound move in business: Invest a little of what you earn to bring in someone who stays. The homeowner remains, the community gains a family and the corporation keeps earning. The money spent comes back. A plan that puts earnings to work to bring people home is not charity. It is clever.
Same amount. Opposite source. Opposite wisdom. One spends savings; the other spends earnings. One pays Alaskans to leave; the other pays them to stay. One empties the state; the other fills it.
Advertisement
This Homeownership Month, the choice is the size of a single check, and the whole question is where the check comes from and what it asks of you. Ten thousand dollars of your own fund, to wave you goodbye. Or $10,000, earned and reinvested, to help you stay and build.
Evan Swensen is the publisher of Publication Consultants in Anchorage and the author of “What’s the Money For: A Permanent Fund Mortgage Proposal.”
• • •
The Anchorage Daily News welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a piece for consideration, email commentary(at)adn.com. Send submissions shorter than 200 words to letters@adn.com or click here to submit via any web browser. Read our full guidelines for letters and commentaries here.
