Who will be the first official person to vote in our state primary election on Aug. 20? Early voting begins on Monday, Aug. 5. Voter turnout for this election is predicted to be small, but that is one reason we do these tidbits, and word of mouth helps.

Do you know who you will vote for? This single-ballot, nonpartisan top-four primary is used to determine the top four vote-getters that will advance to the general election regardless of political affiliation. The voter gets one vote for each race. Find out more at the State of Alaska Division of Elections website.

Alaska has a lengthy history of primary elections, beginning in 1947, when we were a territory.

The citizens voted to have a blanket primary. This kind of primary has every voter getting one ballot and choosing any candidate, regardless of party.

In 1960, the blanket primary was replaced with a single-ballot open primary. In this primary, every voter gets the same ballot, but if you vote for someone from a different party, your ballot is invalidated.

In 1967, the blanket primary was brought back. In 2000, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled California blanket primary unconstitutional.

In 2002, the party-rule ballot primary was adopted. We have had various forms of this kind of primary. To conduct these primaries, parties control their ballot by who can be on it and who can vote.

So, if you were picking a Republican ballot, you must be registered as a Republican, undeclared, or nonpartisan.

Similarly, the other ballot would have the Democratic Party, Libertarian Party, and, up to 2018, the Independence Party, and any registered voter, regardless of party affiliation, could vote on that ballot.

Then, in 2020, we passed Ballot Measure 2. This brought back a single ballot for all voters, and the parties don’t control who is on the ballot, and all voters vote on one ballot. The big difference now is that the top-four winners for each race go on to the general election.

If you are unsure which district you live in, go to this link to find your district: myvoterportal.alaska.gov/voter.

If you plan on voting in the Aug. 20 primary, to find out what is on your ballot, go to www.elections.alaska.gov/sample-ballots/.

Also, if you need to find an early polling station to vote early or vote in-person absentee, aside from voting absentee, go to www.elections.alaska.gov/absentee-and-early-voting/#In-Person.

Kenai Peninsula Votes is a group of citizens that helps educate people about voting. We are strictly nonpartisan regarding candidates. For more information, contact us at kenaipeninsulavotes@gmail.com.