Alaska Votes Again on Ranked Choice as Republicans Push Repeal

Alaska Votes Again on Ranked Choice as Republicans Push Repeal

A single yes-or-no question covering three reforms

On Nov. 3, Alaskans will vote on Ballot Measure 2, which would repeal the election system voters adopted in 2020. A yes vote scraps the whole package: the open top-four primary, ranked choice general elections, and the campaign finance disclosure rules. There is no line-item choice; it is all or nothing.

How the current system works

Every candidate appears on one primary ballot regardless of party, and the top four advance to November. In the general election voters rank candidates in order of preference. If no one takes more than 50 percent of first-choice votes, the last-place candidate is eliminated and those ballots transfer to their voters' next choice. Tabulation happens on Nov. 18, the deadline for the last absentee ballots to arrive, so results reported between Election Day and that date reflect first choices only.

Why repeal is back after a 743-vote defeat

Voters approved the system in 2020, and a repeal attempt in 2024 failed by 743 votes after a recount. Repeal supporters, led by the Repeal Now campaign behind the Yes on 2 effort, argue the system violates one-person, one-vote, discards thousands of ballots each cycle, and produces unrepresentative winners. A consultant for the campaign told national media that an Alaska rejection would send the message that other states should stay away. Defenders, including the author of the 2020 measure, say ranked choice rewards candidates who appeal beyond their base in a state where about 63 percent of registered voters are nonpartisan or undeclared.

The disclosure rules few voters notice

The measure would also roll back the 2020 disclosure provisions: the "true source" rules tracing political money to its origins, 24-hour reporting of certain contributions over $2,000 to independent expenditure groups, extra disclaimers on ads bankrolled mainly by Outside money, and fines for some violations. Under repeal, party primaries return, voters pick a party ballot subject to party bylaws, and generals become single-choice, most-votes-wins contests.

A Senate race with two Sullivans supercharges the fight

The stakes sharpened when retired teacher Daniel J. Sullivan finished in the top four and advanced to face incumbent Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan, who is seeking a third term, alongside former Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola. The Justice Department sued to block certification of the Senate result if the incumbent loses, in a dispute over how the two Sullivans are labeled on the ballot. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who won reelection under ranked choice in 2022, criticized the lawsuit. President Donald Trump then called her "a disgrace to Alaska" and urged Alaskans to vote yes on Measure 2. With control of the Senate potentially in play and only Maine otherwise using the system statewide, the country is watching whether Alaska keeps its experiment or ends it.