New Dispute Erupts on Alaska’s Ranked Choice Voting Repeal – RedState

Alaska appears to have become ground zero for the insane system known as ranked-choice voting, or RCV. It passed by ballot in 2020, narrowly, although the anti-RCV side was heavily outspent by the pro-RCV side – the pro-RCV side, I should note, was funded largely by outside donors, who wanted to use Alaska as a test case. Repeal was scheduled for the 2024 ballot, which failed even more narrowly, by just over 600 votes, although the campaign for repeal was, once again, significantly outplayed.

This question will be on the ballot again this fall. And neither side is happy with the way the ballot question is worded.

A measure to repeal nonpartisan primaries and ranked-choice general elections in Alaska will be on the ballot this year, but exactly how it is worded remains a hot debate.

Both sides of the repeal — pro and anti — have now sued the Division of Elections to try to change the language, because how voters interpret what they see on the ballot can affect the outcome.

Repeal Now filed its complaint last week. Consultant Greg Powers said the state’s proposed wording is more complicated than it needs to be.

“It makes it seem like we’re doing something else in this ballot measure,” Powers said. “But really, all the ballot measure does is return elections in Alaska to what they were before ranked-choice voting, before this ranked-choice voting proposal was passed. So we would like the ballot language to reflect that.”

This should be pretty simple. This was Ballot Measure 2 in the 2020 election. Simply write: “Will Ballot Measure 2, as outlined and approved in the 2020 Alaska election, be repealed?” Something along these lines should do the trick.

Opponents of repeal have a more complicated case to make.

Attorney Scott Kendall is the architect of Alaska’s current voting method, adopted by voters in 2020. In addition to opening primaries and allowing preferential choice, the 2020 reforms require more campaign disclosures, to reduce so-called “dark money.”

Kendall wants the ballot language to make clear that repeal would eliminate all of these things.

It’s a stupid mission. No one, no law, nothing, no joke, will ever take money out of politics, and that’s for sure. And that’s certainly no reason to maintain a confusing electoral system that violates the principle of one voter, one vote.

Learn more: Alaska Governor Dunleavy speaks out against ranked-choice voting

Alaska GOP clears first hurdle in new attempt to repeal controversial voting system

And bet on one thing: Repeal supporters will be overwhelmed again, just like in 2024, and much of the funding for the anti-repeal campaign will come from outside, just like in 2024.

Look, any system that the left likes and wants to keep is bound to be bad, especially when it comes to elections. In 2022, if the original traditional primary system had been in place, Senator Lisa Murkowski could very well have lost the primary to Kelly Tshibaka, but RCV arguably saved her – and she has been a staunch defender of that system. Of course, we must remember that Senator Murkowski lost the Republican primary in 2010 to Republican Joe Miller, then won re-election through a write-in campaign; we shouldn’t underestimate Princess Lisa’s survival instinct.

But RCV is a bad system for Alaska, and unless we can get rid of it, the left will use it as a springboard to try to implement it elsewhere. So far, the legal wrangling is only just beginning — but expect it to continue through November, and it’s just one more reason for Alaskans to get out and vote, no matter what.

Editor’s note: With President Trump returning to the White House, the state of our Union is strong again.

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