State v. Green Party of Alaska

OPINION

BRYNER, Chief Justice.

I. INTRODUCTION

Alaska election statutes governing primary elections require each political party to have its own primary ballot on which only candidates of that political party appear. The Green Party of Alaska and the Republican Moderate Party challenge those statutes, arguing that, by making it unlawful for them to present their candidates together on a combined ballot, the statutes unconstitutionally burden their associational rights. We hold that the statutes substantially burden a political party’s right to determine who may participate in its primary and…