Alaska Republicans are getting behind a push to scrap the state’s new ranked choice voting system following bruising defeats in the midterm elections that saw former Gov. Sarah Palin and GOP Senate nominee Kelly Tshibaka fall to their opponents.
Alaska Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom recently certified an application for a petition that could give voters the choice to switch back to the state’s old election method. However, in order for that to happen, petition sponsor Art Mathias would have to collect nearly 27,000 signatures to put the measure on the ballot in 2024, Alaska Public reported.
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Mathias claimed the new system forced candidates to kiss up to their competitors so that they could gain favor with supporters.
“You got to be nice to them, or they won’t rank you second. They won’t rank you third,” Mathias said. “If you do anything, any disagreement with the other people and their views, they’re not gonna like you, and their people aren’t going to rank you second or third. It shuts down all free expression.”
But Mathias also told Alaska Pubic that said the new system “made Alaska politics meaner.”
“It was the primary season that lasted the entire election cycle,” he said. “Just dirty nastiness the entire time. And no honest exchange of ideas.”
The new system, approved by voters in 2020, changed how the state administered the primary and general elections.
During the primaries, voters had the option to choose among all candidates in the Senate race regardless of party. Each eligible Alaskan got one vote, and the four candidates who received the most advanced to the general election. That worked in Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s (R) favor since she appealed to centrist voters, independents, and even some Democrats.
In the general election, Alaskan voters were allowed to rank whom they wanted to fill a particular position. In the first round of counting, if no candidate made it to the 50% mark, it went to a second round, which started with the candidate who got the fewest votes in the first round being eliminated. If the eliminated candidate was a voter’s top pick, their next choice would get their vote in the round. This continued until Murkowski was declared the winner over Tshibaka, 54% to 46%.
Tshibaka, who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump, announced on Monday that she had launched the group, Preserve Democracy, to push back against ranked choice voting not only in Alaska but around the rest of the country as well. Trump vowed to kick Murkowski out of office after she voted to impeach him for his actions during the Capitol attack.
Palin, a onetime vice presidential candidate, lost her House race in November to Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola. The at-large seat had been in Republican hands for almost five decades before Rep. Don Young died last year.
Palin and members of the Republican Party have criticized ranked choice voting. Palin called it a “cockamamie system” that is “very, very potentially fraught with fraud,” and multiple Republican lawmakers have introduced legislation in the state legislature to eliminate it.
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There has been no proof provided of election fraud in Alaska’s elections.
At the time of the election, Republicans argued that since GOP candidates won 60% of the ballots — Palin and Republican Nick Begich placed second and third, respectively, in the August special election to replace Young — the system “disenfranchises voters.”
Even though there are efforts in Alaska to return to its previous election method, the idea of ranked choice voting has become popular elsewhere, with proponents arguing that it helps elect candidates who can attract broad support. Lawmakers in 14 states have introduced, filed, or prefiled 27 bills in favor of it.
