The group that championed Alaska’s ranked-choice voting reform filed a complaint on July 5 against several individuals and entities that are leading an effort to repeal the state’s new election laws, alleging that they violated multiple campaign finance rules and obscured the source of their funding.
The complaint alleges that opponents of ranked-choice voting founded a church called the Ranked Choice Education Association that could allow donors to gain tax advantages for their contributions while skirting disclosure requirements. Those requirements apply to any group working to promote the ongoing effort to repeal Alaska’s ranked-choice voting and open primaries through a ballot measure.
The Ranked Choice Education Association appeared to engage in “the laundering of contributions” for Alaskans for Honest Elections, the anti-ranked choice voting ballot group, the complaint alleges.
The complaint was filed by Alaskans for Better Elections, which spent millions of dollars in 2020 advocating for the adoption of ranked-choice voting and open primaries by ballot measure. The group filed its complaint with the Alaska Public Offices Commission, a government watchdog organization responsible for enforcing the state’s campaign finance laws. Voters approved the elections change in 2020; it took effect with the 2022 elections.
Art Mathias, president of the Ranked Choice Education Association and director of Alaskans for Honest Elections, said the complaint is “just politics and lies” but declined to answer specific questions about the allegations.
Phillip Izon, another leader of the ballot measure group, said many of the allegations in the complaint were the result of misunderstandings of the rules on his part, which he was willing to address if asked by the Public Offices Commission.
Alaskans for Honest Elections formed shortly after the 2022 election to advocate for repealing ranked-choice voting and open primaries. While the group claimed to be nonpartisan, all of the leaders of the group are registered Republicans and have claimed that Alaska’s new election laws disadvantage Republican candidates.
Public filings indicate that Mathias funneled money to the ballot group through the Ranked Choice Education Association, which incorporated as a church in Washington state in December of last year “to promote Christian doctrines,” “evangelize worldwide” and “support missionary activities.”
The association’s website contains information about ranked-choice voting and states the group is “working to educate about elections and government.” The website contains no mention of religious activity.
Asked why the group was incorporated as a church, Mathias said July 5, “that statement isn’t correct” but refused to elaborate.
The complaint alleges that the group’s church status would allow its donors to “falsely obtain tax deductions.”
The Ranked Choice Education Association, according to one filing with the Public Offices Commission, has contributed $90,000 to Alaskans for Honest Elections. The Ranked Choice Education Association is the primary contributor to the anti-ranked-choice voting group.
All of the money reportedly spent so far by the ballot group has gone to Leading Light Advisors, a marketing agency owned by Diamond Metzner, the wife of initiative leader Izon.
The complaint alleges that the Ranked Choice Education Association is illegally acting as an unregistered ballot measure group and must register with the Alaska Public Offices Commission, meaning it would have to disclose the identity of its donors in greater detail.
Outside of his work to repeal Alaska’s voting reform, Mathias is an insurance agent and minister who has written several books and advocated for right-wing causes. Izon previously owned a marijuana business, and now owns Swarm Intel, a business that “develops and deploys artificial intelligence solutions,” according to its website.
Alaskans for Honest Elections is gathering signatures in an effort to put the question on the 2024 ballot of whether to repeal ranked-choice voting in Alaska. The group must gather 26,000 signatures in order for the question to be placed on the 2024 ballot. Izon said the group is on track to complete the task by August.
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