Alaska issues first ballot measure pamphlet since 2014

<title>Alaska mails first ballot measure pamphlet since 2014 ahead of Tuesday's primary</title>

The Alaska Division of Elections is mailing registered voter households a pamphlet explaining Tuesday's ballot measure, the first such mailing the division has issued since 2014. Procurement terms required delivery by July 20. The division has not confirmed how many households have received copies.

Ballot Measure 1, tracked as 23RCF2, would restore contribution limits for state and local campaigns. Individuals could give $2,000 to a candidate each election cycle and $5,000 to a political party. Groups other than parties could give $4,000 to a candidate and $5,000 to other parties or groups. Joint campaigns for governor and lieutenant governor could take $4,000 from individuals and $8,000 from groups. The limits would rise with inflation every 10 years beginning in 2031.

The measure exists because a 2021 Ninth Circuit ruling in Thompson v. Hebdon found Alaska's $500 individual limit unconstitutional. The Alaska Public Offices Commission now lists individual contributions to candidates as unlimited, while non-party group-to-candidate limits remain $1,000 per calendar year. Plaintiffs and supporters of that ruling have argued contribution caps can unconstitutionally restrict political speech and association protected by the First Amendment. Any future challenge to the new limits could be evaluated under that precedent. Sponsors received a notice of proper filing on October 17, 2024. The Alaska State House passed House Bill 16, which carried the same language, on a 22-18 vote in April 2025, but the bill did not clear the Alaska State Senate.

The pamphlet puts the state's cost of implementing the measure at $120,503, including $15,000 in travel costs for public hearings. The division produced the pamphlet at 73 cents per copy. Along with the measure's full proposed text, the pamphlet carries a neutral summary prepared by the Legislative Affairs Agency, cost information, statements supporting and opposing the measure, a sample ballot and voter information such as absentee voting, polling places and language assistance.

Two teleconference hearings, on July 27 and August 5, gave both sides time before public testimony. At the August 5 hearing, Rep. Calvin Schrage said unlimited giving means "wealthy individuals and special interests have an outsized impact." Ben Carpenter told the same hearing the measure "does not take big money out of Alaskan elections. It changes the path big money takes."

Alaskans vote Tuesday, August 18. Copies of the pamphlet are posted online and stocked at regional election and legislative information offices, with translations in several Alaska Native languages and Tagalog.