It’s becoming an increasingly common tactic for election losers to blame anyone but themselves.
In Alaska, that means several of the recent losers and their supporters blame their defeat on ranked-choice voting, which took effect for the 2022 elections after the public voted in favor of the change in 2020.
But rather than learn from their losses and put up candidates who appeal to a broader range of voters, which is the smart way to win elections, the losers want to deny all Alaskans the ability to select from the best of everyone on the ballot, not just those screened for the election by a closed political party system.
And now, in 2024, Alaskans may have to decide again whether ranked-choice voting is better than political party primaries to select the general election finalists. It looks like opponents of the voting system have turned in enough petition signatures to put the question on the 2024 statewide ballot, asking voters to repeal their 2020 decision.
The advocates argue that ranked-choice voting is confusing. Many call it corrupt — a favorite word when someone does not like the results. They have no proof of corruption or misdeeds, but that doesn’t seem to stop anyone these days. The group pushing the repeal vote has adopted the slogan: “Our Mission is to Return Alaskan Elections to Alaskans.”
Yet, in fact, their aim is to take elections away from Alaskans and return it to political parties, the Republican party in particular.
Alaska Republicans used to keep their primary elections closed to anyone registered with another party. The state, by the way, paid to conduct those primaries.
The closed primaries produced some pretty hard-core conservative candidates who appealed to the party’s base but not many other voters. It heightened divisive politics. It pushed away Republican candidates who were willing to work for all Alaskans, not just those endorsed by the party.
Ranked-choice voting is designed to tone down partisanship by putting all candidates of all parties into one primary with the top four advancing to the general election, where voters can rank the four in order of preference. The candidate with the most support from the most voters wins.
Nothing evil or corrupt about that, just a better way of electing people who put the state and its residents ahead of party loyalty. It’s also a better way to reflect Alaskans’ independence — almost 60% of registered voters in the state are listed as nonpartisan or independent.
Ranked-choice voting gives those 60%, and everyone else, a better shot at voting for their preferred candidates. There is no reason to change something as fair as that.
— Wrangell Sentinel
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