{"id":1608087,"date":"2022-08-16T08:47:14","date_gmt":"2022-08-16T12:47:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1608087"},"modified":"2022-08-16T08:47:30","modified_gmt":"2022-08-16T12:47:30","slug":"alaska-voters-to-use-ranked-voting-system-for-first-time-during-primaries-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/alaska-voters-to-use-ranked-voting-system-for-first-time-during-primaries-today\/","title":{"rendered":"Alaska Voters to Use Ranked Voting System for First Time During Primaries Today"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Falaska-voters-to-use-ranked-voting-system-for-first-time-during-primaries-today%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1608087&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><\/div>\n<p class=\"Component-root-0-2-103 Component-p-0-2-94\">JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) \u2014 Alaska voters get their first shot at using ranked voting in a statewide race Tuesday in a special U.S. House election in which Sarah Palin seeks a return to elected office. <\/p>\n<p class=\"Component-root-0-2-103 Component-p-0-2-94\">Also, Republican U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski faces 18 challengers in a primary in which the top four vote-getters will advance to November\u2019s general election. <\/p>\n<p class=\"Component-root-0-2-103 Component-p-0-2-94\">The special election and regular primaries for U.S. Senate, U.S. House, governor and lieutenant governor and state legislative seats are on opposite sides of a two-sided ballot. It could take until Aug. 31 to know the winner of the special election. <\/p>\n<p class=\"Component-root-0-2-103 Component-p-0-2-94\">The three candidates competing in that race are Republicans Palin and Nick Begich and Democrat Mary Peltola. The winner will serve the remainder of the late Rep. Don Young\u2019s term. Young, a Republican, held the state\u2019s only House seat for 49 years. He died in March. <\/p>\n<p class=\"Component-root-0-2-103 Component-p-0-2-94\">Palin, the 2008 vice presidential nominee and a former Alaska governor, renewed her \u201cdrill, baby, drill\u201d calls for increased oil production and said she would use her connections to the benefit of Alaska. She said the new, voter-approved election system creates confusion and should be changed. <\/p>\n<div class=\"Component-dfp-0-2-98\">\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"Component-root-0-2-103 Component-p-0-2-94\">In a recent interview with Steve Bannon, Palin described it as the \u201cnewfangled, weirdo voting system we have where it\u2019s mail in-only ballots\u201d and ranked voting. The special election is a traditional election with in-person voting, and voters were able to request absentee ballots. <\/p>\n<p class=\"Component-root-0-2-103 Component-p-0-2-94\">Begich, a businessman from a family of prominent Democrats, has come out hard against Palin, seeking to cast her as someone chasing fame and a quitter; Palin resigned during her term as governor in 2009. In one Begich ad, a woman says: \u201cI\u2019m voting for smart &#8211; not Sarah.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"Component-root-0-2-103 Component-p-0-2-94\">Palin \u201cdoes not have a strong track record of effective advocacy for the state and that\u2019s not going to work for us,\u201d Begich said in an interview.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Component-root-0-2-103 Component-p-0-2-94\">Palin, meanwhile, has questioned Begich\u2019s Republican credentials.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Component-root-0-2-103 Component-p-0-2-94\">Peltola, a former lawmaker, most recently worked at a commission whose goal is to rebuild salmon resources on the Kuskokwim River. She has cast herself as a \u201cregular Alaskan\u201d and consensus builder. If successful, she would be the first Alaska Native woman elected to the House. <\/p>\n<div class=\"Component-dfp-0-2-98\">\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"Component-root-0-2-103 Component-p-0-2-94\">\u201cVote, vote, vote and vote for me twice, literally,\u201d Peltola told supporters in Juneau days before the election in urging them to turn out and to tell their friends to vote.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Component-root-0-2-103 Component-p-0-2-94\">All three said they planned to pursue a full, two-year House term, regardless of how the special election turns out. They, along with Republican Tara Sweeney, who was an assistant secretary for Indian Affairs in the U.S. Interior Department during the Trump administration, were the most prominent candidates in a 22-person field in the U.S. House primary. <\/p>\n<p class=\"Component-root-0-2-103 Component-p-0-2-94\">Sweeney also filed days before the special election as a write-in candidate for that race. Palin\u2019s campaign on Friday sent an email wrongly stating there were no official write-in candidates in the race.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Component-root-0-2-103 Component-p-0-2-94\">Alaska\u2019s elections process, approved by voters in 2020 and used for the first time this year, pairs open primaries, in which all candidates in a race are on the ballot together, with ranked vote general elections. The four candidates with the most votes in each primary race advance to the November general election.<\/p>\n<div class=\"Component-dfp-0-2-98\">\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"Component-root-0-2-103 Component-p-0-2-94\">Bob Cruise left a Peltola fundraiser in Juneau Friday with a yard sign. He said his three granddaughters are of indigenous heritage. \u201cIt\u2019s important to me for them to see an indigenous woman go to Washington, D.C., as Alaska\u2019s representative. That would mean the world to me, especially one with the leadership abilities and all the wonderful qualities that Mary has,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Component-root-0-2-103 Component-p-0-2-94\">Murkowski, a moderate who has been in the Senate for nearly 20 years and has at times been at odds with her party, faces 18 challengers, including fellow Republican Kelly Tshibaka, who is backed by former President Donald Trump. <\/p>\n<p class=\"Component-root-0-2-103 Component-p-0-2-94\">Trump has lashed out against Murkowski, who voted to convict him in his second impeachment trial after the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection. Trump was acquitted.<\/p>\n<div class=\"Component-dfp-0-2-98\">\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"Component-root-0-2-103 Component-p-0-2-94\">The most visible Democrat in the race is retired educated Pat Chesbro, who jumped in late and has struggled to gain fundraising traction. The other candidates in the field have had lower profiles.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Component-root-0-2-103 Component-p-0-2-94\">Candidates for governor and lieutenant governor run as teams in the primary. Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy is seeking reelection. He is running with Nancy Dahlstrom, who resigned as head of the state corrections department to join the ticket. Former Gov. Bill Walker, an independent, is running with Heidi Drygas, who was his labor department commissioner. Democrat Les Gara, a former lawmaker, is running with Jessica Cook, a teacher.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Component-root-0-2-103 Component-p-0-2-94\">Other tickets include Republican state Rep. Christopher Kurka, running to the right of Dunleavy, with Paul Hueper, and Charlie Pierce, a Republican borough mayor, running with Edie Grunwald.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Component-root-0-2-103 Component-p-0-2-94\">Fifty-nine of the Legislature\u2019s 60 seats are up for election, but just one primary race has more than four candidates.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Component-root-0-2-103 Component-p-0-2-94\">Beth Kerttula, a Democratic former state legislator, said she is supporting Peltola, Walker and Murkowski. Kerttula, who was in the Legislature with Peltola and Murkowski, said for many Alaskans \u201cwhat really matters is the person\u201d versus the party.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Component-root-0-2-103 Component-p-0-2-94\">\u201cI mean, we all supported Ted Stevens, too,\u201d she said, referring to the late, longtime Republican U.S. senator. Alaska elections history includes periods when there were open primaries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) \u2014 Alaska voters get their first shot at using ranked voting in a statewide race Tuesday in a special U.S. House election in which Sarah Palin seeks<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1608377,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1608087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1608087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1608087"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1608087\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1608377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1608087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1608087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1608087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}