{"id":1637353,"date":"2022-09-09T07:02:43","date_gmt":"2022-09-09T11:02:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1637353"},"modified":"2022-09-09T07:03:15","modified_gmt":"2022-09-09T11:03:15","slug":"alaskas-ranked-choice-voting-scheme-was-a-plot-to-save-murkowski-but-it-also-doomed-palin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/alaskas-ranked-choice-voting-scheme-was-a-plot-to-save-murkowski-but-it-also-doomed-palin\/","title":{"rendered":"Alaska\u2019s Ranked-Choice Voting Scheme Was A Plot To Save Murkowski, But It Also Doomed Palin"},"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\">30<\/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%2Falaskas-ranked-choice-voting-scheme-was-a-plot-to-save-murkowski-but-it-also-doomed-palin%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=1637353&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--><p>Election officials <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/09\/01\/sarah-palin-should-blame-lisa-murkowski-for-her-special-election-loss\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">called<\/a> Alaska\u2019s special election House race for Democrat Mary Peltola over 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin last week. Peltola\u2019s victory, despite nearly 60 percent of votes cast for a Republican on all first-choice ballots, will mark the first time since 1973 that a Democrat will represent the state in the lower chamber. <\/p>\n<p>Whether the August contest was Palin\u2019s race or Republican Nick Begich\u2019s race to lose is an open question. Whether the Republicans\u2019 loss was a consequence of Alaska\u2019s new ranked-choice voting system, however, is no doubt, and GOP Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski is the one to blame. <\/p>\n<h2>Murkowski\u2019s Plot to Avoid a Primary<\/h2>\n<p>In 2010, Sen. Murkowski captured re-election through a triumphant write-in campaign after losing the Republican primary to a former federal magistrate who was backed by Palin. Murkowski comfortably won a third full term in 2016 but continued to antagonize the state\u2019s  Republican base with votes to oppose restrictions on abortion, preserve Obamacare, and convict President Donald Trump in his second impeachment. Murkowski also voted \u201cpresent\u201d in the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, and she upset constituents when last year she served as the <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/04\/29\/what-has-murkowskis-vote-for-deb-haaland-done-for-alaska\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">tie-breaker<\/a> to move forward the nomination of Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, who has shut down state development projects. <\/p>\n<p>In other words, Murkowski did not strive to win over Republicans in a state that went for Trump by 10 points in 2020. To save her seat, Murkowski operatives devised a plan to avoid a primary by radically transforming the state\u2019s election system. The answer became ranked-choice voting, a ballot system to rig elections in favor of the incumbent.<\/p>\n<p>Under the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.elections.alaska.gov\/RCV.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ranked-choice ballot system<\/a>, the traditional partisan primary is replaced by an open-party contest where the top four candidates advance to the general election. Voters then \u201crank\u201d their preferred candidates in the ensuing race. If none receives a majority, or more than 50 percent of the first-choice ballots cast, the votes are tabulated again and the lowest scoring candidate is eliminated. The losing candidate\u2019s ballots then count toward their second-choice pick, and the process is repeated until a candidate reaches more than 50 percent of the vote. <\/p>\n<p>In August, the investigative group Project Veritas <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/article-11113241\/Hidden-video-reveals-Murkowskis-campaign-worked-pass-ranked-choice-voting-Alaska.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">published<\/a> tapes of Murkowski operatives bragging about fundamentally changing the state\u2019s electoral system to keep Murkowski in power. Democrats, they theorized, would rank Murkowski as their number two preference, giving the incumbent senator the upper hand when the Democrat candidate is eliminated as the lowest vote-getter in a three-way race. This year the contest is between Murkowski, main Republican challenger Kelly Tshibaka, and Democrat Patricia Chesbro. In 2020, Alaska voters narrowly approved the state\u2019s new voting system after a successful campaign from Murkowski operatives put the plan before residents as Ballot Measure 2. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhile we were working on Ballot Measure 2 and voting for Ballot Measure 2, we had Sen. Murkowski in mind the whole time,\u201d said Emma Ashlock, a Murkowski campaign coordinator, on camera. \u201cEvery single Pat Chesbro voter who ranks Senator Murkowski second, we get their votes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Shea Siegert, now the communications director for Murkowski\u2019s re-election campaign, was previously the campaign manager for the group pushing Ballot Measure 2.<\/p>\n<p>In the Alaska House race, Peltola won the seat with nearly 52 percent of the final vote to Palin\u2019s 48.<\/p>\n[LISTEN: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spreaker.com\/user\/10614200\/how-alaska-s-confusing-ranked-choice-vot\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">How Alaska\u2019s Confusing Ranked-Choice Voting Is Really A Scheme To Keep Murkowski In Office<\/a>]\n<h2>Dark Money Provisions Were a Distraction<\/h2>\n<p>Ballot Measure 2 was sold to Alaskans as an effort to impose greater transparency in state elections by requiring more information to be public about the source of campaign finances. The package eliminated \u201cdark money\u201d from elections, merged the state\u2019s partisan primaries into one contest, and implemented ranked-choice voting for the general all rolled into one.<\/p>\n<p>In an op-ed for the Anchorage Daily News, one of Alaska\u2019s largest newspapers, local activist and Ballot Measure 2 supporter Kiera O\u2019Brien wrote that the proposal would \u201cmake three critical reinforcements to our elections infrastructure.\u201d O\u2019Brien highlighted the initiative\u2019s provisions on dark money first, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.adn.com\/opinions\/2020\/08\/31\/yes-on-ballot-measure-2-yes-on-climate-action\/\">writing<\/a>, \u201cit would illuminate dark money\u2019s influence by requiring any group that receives over half its funding from outside Alaska to provide a Disclaimer on all public communications.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Dark money, however, continues to flourish in Alaskan politics.    <\/p>\n<p>In August, Joel Davidson, the editor-in-chief of the Alaska Watchman, <a href=\"https:\/\/alaskawatchman.com\/2022\/08\/22\/leftist-dark-money-bankrolls-opposition-to-alaska-constitutional-convention\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">outlined<\/a> how dark money from left-wing groups is effectively \u201cbankrolling\u201d campaigns to oppose a state constitutional convention, which re-appears on the ballot every 10 years. Davidson highlighted a campaign expenditure report for \u201cNo on 1, Defend Our Constitution\u201d showing that the \u201cSixteen Thirty Fund\u201d donated $500,000 to oppose a re-examination of the state constitution. <\/p>\n<p>As a nonprofit, the group is not required to reveal its donors. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cAside from Sixteen Thirty Fund, the \u2018No on One, Defend Our Constitution\u2019 has been primarily funded by unions, including the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers based out of Washington, DC, American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association of Alaska,\u201d Davidson reported. \u201cEach of these groups have donated $50,000. Additionally, the AFL-CIO national union federation has pumped in $50,000 in outside money. Together, these groups have contributed $700,000 of the $821,181 in contributions that No on One has reported thus far.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Murkowski\u2019s own campaign is funded primarily by <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/05\/26\/records-sen-lisa-murkowski-funded-by-lower-48-donors-despite-her-criticism-of-outside-influence\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">outside<\/a> interests from the lower 48. According\u00a0to public finance data compiled by OpenSecrets, nearly 85 percent of the senator\u2019s contributions has come from out of state. Only 15 percent came from Alaskan residents in the current cycle. Less than 5 percent of the senator\u2019s financing has come from small-dollar donors. More than 88 percent has come from large individual contributions or political action committees.  <\/p>\n<p>Trump-endorsed Republican Senate candidate Kelly Tshibaka, on the other hand, has raised less than $17,000 from political action committees amounting to less than 1 percent of her financial support while she remains far more reliant on in-state support, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.opensecrets.org\/races\/geography?cycle=2022&amp;id=AKS2&amp;spec=N\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">according<\/a> to OpenSecrets. <\/p>\n<p>In other words, Ballot Measure 2\u2019s provisions on dark money were toothless red herrings to convince voters that its primary purpose was to reform campaign finance as opposed to protecting the incumbent.<\/p>\n<h2>A Blueprint to Takeover Elections Nationwide<\/h2>\n<p>The ballot system is becoming the go-to measure to reform American elections by left-wing activists who obscure simplicity in the contest. The multiple rounds of tabulation after election day left Alaskan voters in the dark on the winning candidate for weeks until a candidate garnered more than 50 percent of the ballots cast in August. <\/p>\n<p>The system not only robs parties of their ability to nominate the candidates of their choice, but the mechanism adds layers of complexity to an otherwise simple process for conducting elections.<\/p>\n<p>Alaska and Maine are the only two states to use ranked-choice voting for their elections, in addition to nearly two-dozen cities across the country. In November, voters in Nevada will <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/08\/26\/ranked-choice-voting-is-a-nightmare-and-its-on-the-ballot-in-nevada\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">decide<\/a> whether to adopt the same system, and efforts are <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/08\/26\/ranked-choice-voting-failed-to-make-ballot-in-missouri-but-beware-the-left-will-keep-pushing-it\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">underway<\/a> in Virginia and Arizona to implement similar ranked-choice voting schemes. More campaigns are almost certainly in the pipeline to reform state elections under a ranked-choice system as incumbents such as Murkowski survive true accountability. <\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n<p>\n  Tristan Justice is the western correspondent for The Federalist. He has also written for The Washington Examiner and The Daily Signal. His work has also been featured in Real Clear Politics and Fox News. Tristan graduated from George Washington University where he majored in political science and minored in journalism. Follow him on Twitter at @JusticeTristan or contact him at Tristan@thefederalist.com.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-comments mt-30 mt-sm-60\">\n<div class=\"article-comments-container d-flex flex-column align-items-center py-30\">\n    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"110\" height=\"106\" src=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/fdrlst-mark.svg\" class=\"img-fluid mb-20\" alt=\"The Federalist logo eagle mark\" \/>    <\/p>\n<p>Unlock commenting by joining the Federalist Community.<\/p>\n<p>    <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/plans\/pricing\/\" class=\"btn btn-on-white\">Subscribe<\/a>  <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Election officials called Alaska\u2019s special election House race for Democrat Mary Peltola over 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin last week. Peltola\u2019s victory, despite nearly 60 percent of votes<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":494,"featured_media":2315279,"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-1637353","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\/1637353","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\/494"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1637353"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1637353\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1637353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1637353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1637353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}