Alaska Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom has approved a petition that would, if granted, remove the state’s non-partisan primary and ranked choice voting system.
Sponsor Art Mathias would like to return to the traditional election where each candidate of each party is on the general election ballot for each race.
He stated that the new system required candidates to keep their mouths shut to avoid offending their supporters.
“They won’t rank your second if you aren’t nice to them.” Mathias stated that they won’t rank third. Mathias stated, “If you do something, any disagreement with other people or their views, they won’t like you. Their people won’t rank you second or third.” It restricts all freedom of expression.
Mathias also blames the new electoral system for making Alaska politics more dull.
He said, “It was only the primary season that lasted for the entire election cycle.” “Just dirty nastiness all the time. There is no exchange of ideas.
Alaskan voters adopted the new voting system and began using it in 2022. The new system, which advocates ranked choice voting and a non-partisan primary, is said to produce consensus candidates because it reduces extremism from the left and right. It encourages civil discourse, and it gives candidates incentive to appeal beyond their base voters, according to supporters.
Mathias’s group Alaskans for Honest Elections is currently waiting for its petition brochures. After that, they will have one year to collect almost 27,000 signatures in order to place the measure on the 2024 ballot. The group will launch its campaign on February 16th with an event.
Separately, Kelly Tshibaka, a conservative Republican, announced Monday that Preserve Democracy was her new group to combat ranked voting in Alaska and across the country.
Tshibaka lost her election to unseat moderate Republican U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski in November. Tshibaka is loved by Alaska’s Republican base. It wasn’t her ranked choice that cost the election. Murkowski was first in first-choice votes before any second- and third-rankings were counted.
Tshibaka had a better chance to win if she had the opportunity to defeat Murkowski in a traditional Republican primary. They both won with Alaska’s new top four primary.
With the help of moderates, Democrats, and nonpartisans Murkowski won nearly 9,000 more first-choice votes than Tshibaka in November. After the rankings were tallied, Murkowski’s lead was almost 19,000.
