The UCES Clown Party has left the circus in Alaska. The political party has no current registered voters in the 49th this month, although it’s still on the Division of Elections’ list of 16 official political groups.
Started in California as a pro-marijuana and progressive political movement in about 2014, the “Useless Clown Party” had 102 members registered in Alaska just three years ago in July’s voter roll update.
Not all that are called political parties are actually recognized as parties in Alaska. A group has to have 5,000 registrants in order to be considered an official political party, while those with fewer than that are called political groups by the state. More about the different categories of parties and groups at this link.
The Division of Elections publishes an update of voter rolls every month, and does a voter roll purge in early March of every year.
Must Read Alaska periodically reviews these voter trends, typically in March and at other times during the year to get a snapshot of the dynamics. The following are some that are noteworthy, particularly now that Alaska has just one primary election with all party candidates on the same ballot, while before 2020’s Ballot Measure 2, Republicans had a separate ballot that could only be voted by those registered with the party or not registered with another official party.
In the July, 2023 voter roll update, the Alaska Republican Party has increased by 1,702 members since July of 2020, and still stands out as the largest single party in Alaska, with 141,522 members. Republicans are down 2% in three years.
The Alaska Democratic Party has lost members, but is still the state’s second-largest political party. But since July of 2020 when they had 76,779 voters, the Democrats have shed 2,113 registered voters and are now at 74,666, a 2.75% drop in three years.
The Alaska Independence Party has gained members, going from 17,111 in 2020 to 18,865 this month. The party is unique to Alaska, and in its formation was created as a secessionist party 39 years ago by the late Joe Vogler, although it is now a conservative party not focused on secession.
Looking farther back at a 2016’s snapshot, the state had 144,445 registered Republicans and 78,713 registered Democrats in that year, when President Donald Trump won the Alaska vote with 51.3% of the vote.
The overall voter base has increased since 2016, from 530,653 to 596,637, a 12.4% increase.
Alaska’s population in 2016 was 742,575. By the 2021 U.S. Census was 732,673, a 1.3% decrease.
Some of the other party and no-party affiliations:
The Undeclared voters still rule the roost, with 266,874 registered voters, a gain of 5,255 voters in the past three years. The increase may be attributed not so much to people leaving parties but rather are probably newcomers to Alaska applying for the Alaska Permanent Fund dividends and drivers’ licenses, and thus being automatically registered to vote and assigned the “Undeclared” status.
Nonpartisan voters now number 83,090, a gain of 835 voters, or about 1% since 2020. Nonpartisans, unlike Undeclareds, do not gain in numbers by simply showing up at the Division of Motor Vehicles. These are people who register to vote intentionally; typically they are government workers.
The Libertarian Party has seen shrinkage, starting with 7,082 in July of 2020 and now down to 6,800 registered voters, a 4% decrease in three years.
The Green Party has lost about 70 registered voters in Alaska in three years, and is now down to 1,511 members.
Overall, the official Alaska voter rolls have 1.3% more voters this month than they did three years ago. Today, there are 596,637 registered Alaska voters. The number of overall voters changes as voter rolls are purged each March, and then fluctuates throughout the year.
As for the Clown Party, it will probably be dropped off the Division of Elections list of official political groups, since no one is registered with the party in Alaska. (We don’t know where the clowns went, but readers may have some ideas.)
