Sonneman v. State

OPINION

MATTHEWS, Chief Justice.

I. INTRODUCTION

Joe Sonneman raises several constitutional challenges to the 1995 amendment to AS 15.15.030(6), which ended the practice of rotating the order of candidates’ names on election ballots, and replaced it with a random determination of the order of candidates’ names. The superior court granted summary judgment in favor of the State, holding that even if candidates received some advantage based on their ballot positions, the random placement of candidates’ names did not violate the challenged provisions of the United States or Alaska constitutions. We…