By SUZANNE DOWNING
March 8, 2026 – Alaska’s voter rolls are a little leaner this year after the Alaska Division of Elections completed its annual voter-list maintenance on March 3, removing people who have died, moved away, quit applying for Permanent Fund dividends or have not responded to inquiries after years of inactivity.
The annual process, required under state law and federal voter-maintenance rules, trimmed the state’s total number of registered voters to 575,170, down from 596,493 at this time last year. That’s more than 3.5% smaller than last year’s post-purge number.
Division of Elections Director Carol Beecher has been making a concerted effort to clean up the voter rolls, while still following Alaska’s liberal laws that allow people to remain out of state for long periods and still retain their voting rights, so long as they do not register to vote in another state and intend to return to Alaska.
The biggest change in the data is the disappearance of the Alaskan Independence Party (AIP) from the rolls. The party has dissolved in a controversial move that is being contested. It is no longer a recognized political organization in Alaska, and voters who had been registered with it were moved into the undeclared category unless they updated their affiliation themselves.
That shift helped boost Alaska’s already dominant bloc of unaffiliated voters. Here are the main groupings of affiliations this year:
• Total registered voters: 575,170
• Undeclared: 270,590
• Republican: 142,453
• Nonpartisan: 81,903
• Democrat: 70,191
Undeclared voters continue to represent the largest share of Alaska’s electorate by a wide margin, accounting for nearly half of all registered voters in the state.
Compared to last year’s post-purge numbers, most major categories declined slightly as the rolls were cleaned. Here are those numbers:
• 2025 total voters: 596,493
• 2025 Undeclared: 264,387
• 2025 Republican: 145,637
• 2025 Democrat: 72,992
• 2025 Nonpartisan: 82,871
• 2025 Alaskan Independence Party: 19,219
Several smaller political parties remain officially recognized by the state, though most have very small memberships. A few new party labels have also appeared on Alaska’s voter rolls this year.
• Reform Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend Party: 7 members (new this year)
• Conservative Party USA: 24 members (new this year)
• Prohibition Party: 0 members (new this year)
Meanwhile, the Alaska Libertarian Party saw a modest decline in registration, dropping from 6,309 members last year to 6,085 this year.
The Division of Elections recognizes several other minor parties as active political organizations in Alaska, including the Alaska Constitution Party, Green Party of Alaska, Veteran’s Party of Alaska, and the satirical UCES’ Clown Party.
Two parties are now listed as dissolved in the state’s party codes: the Alaskan Independence Party and the Alaska America Party.
Districts showing the largest growth were in the Mat-Su Valley. New housing and migration from Anchorage drive both population and voter registration growth:
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District 27 – Wasilla / Meadow Lakes
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District 28 – Wasilla / Knik-Fairview
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District 29 – Palmer
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District 30 – Palmer / Butte
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Typical increase pattern:+200 to +500 voters per district in one year
This region accounted for several of the top 10 increases statewide.
Even though Anchorage has population stagnation, voter registrations still grew in Midtown, East Anchorage, and South Anchorage.
The districts that lost the most voters were overwhelmingly rural Alaska districts, reflecting outmigration or list maintenance during the purge. The largest declines were:
District 37 – Bristol Bay / Southwest
District 38 – Bethel region
District 39 – Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta
The Top 10 District Changes (Approximate)
| Rank | District | Region | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | HD 27 | Wasilla | Large gain |
| 2 | HD 28 | Wasilla | Large gain |
| 3 | HD 29 | Palmer | Large gain |
| 4 | HD 30 | Palmer/Butte | Large gain |
| 5 | HD 11 | South Anchorage | Moderate gain |
| 6 | HD 15 | East Anchorage | Moderate gain |
| 7 | HD 35 | Fairbanks | Moderate gain |
| 8 | HD 36 | Fairbanks area | Moderate gain |
| 9 | HD 37 | Bristol Bay | Largest loss |
| 10 | HD 38 | Bethel area | Large loss |
Before Alaska began allowing residents to register to vote through the Permanent Fund Dividend application, the state’s voter rolls were significantly smaller.
Following the Division of Elections’ annual purge on April 1, 2017 Alaska had 516,119 registered voters. Today’s total of 575,130 voters represents roughly 59,011 more names on the rolls than before PFD voter registration began.
State election officials have noted that PFD applications now count as a form of voter contact, which can keep otherwise inactive voters from being removed during the Division’s periodic list maintenance.
Even so, the 2026 purge still removed more than 21,000 net inactive or relocated voters compared with the 2024 voter roll, which peaked at 596,494 voters following the March 4, 2024 purge.
7 thoughts on “Alaska voter rolls shrink after annual purge, undeclared voters dominate, Mat-Su voter rolls grow”
I became Undeclared in early 2000s because of the corrupt weak and feckless GOP showed their real colors…aka deepstae globalists.
I won’t even think aboit becoming a R again until Murkowski and lobbyists is booted.
President Trump has my full support.
District 29 has had huge housing development growth. The valley as a whole is of course growing in population that may or may not be favorable to conservative values. It seems to me there has been a subtle increase of left leaning, evidenced by activity on the local news FB pages. I pray I am wrong.
Elizabeth. Yes. I know. You know what. Palmer and Wasilla is going Democrat.
Not enough of matsu residents Know the Word of God. They know Of Him. But they don’t know him let alone how to follow Him. The Republicans are not getting involved in your neighborhood councils to control them. You go democrats controlling your local government and spending. They are already electing Big government Republicans out of Matsu.
You know what’s my response to anyone out of Anchorage saying they want to move to Wasilla-Palmer because they want to get away from Anchorage. I say “you’ll be leaving in five years because that how long Republican got before they realized Democrats control the Matsu” and the sad part is Matsu republicans is giving it to them!
Yes Elizabeth your perception and observations is Right. Matsu is going left and the speed of the Democrats has recently sped up. It’s like the Matsu Republicabs are still driving a 1989 Corvette and the Matsu Democrats upgraded and are now driving a 2010 Corvette.
Just like watching what Anchorage is making working people here put up with, seeing What Wasilla-Palmer is becoming it makes me sad and frustrated. Just like Anchorage You guys deserve better than what your community leaders are giving you in what they call suburb service when they are giving your Shotty work and the streets are a tell tell sign if what more they ain’t doing.
“Before Alaska began allowing residents to register to vote through the Permanent Fund Dividend application…”
More accurate would be “Before Alaska required residents to register to vote through the Permanent Fund Dividend application…” The process is voter registration by default, (https://pfd.alaska.gov/Automatic-Voter-Registration) with an opt-out required if that is not what you wanted. It pads the list with people who may never, or seldom, vote making fraud easier.
You know what’s Really pitiful is only half of the total registered voters of new list will vote. Means only 250,000 out of 750,000 Alaskans states their opinion on Election Day telling which party they prefer running government and who they want as their District elect representing them.
How many in these rolls from the state are illegals voting and really should be removed from the voting rolls and the state of Alaska with the help of ICE? If the rolls haven’t purged those individuals then they need to get it done. and, if they can’t then call on Immigration to clean up the mess of people here voting and should be removed.