{"id":1847800,"date":"2023-02-15T09:36:15","date_gmt":"2023-02-15T14:36:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1847800"},"modified":"2023-02-15T09:39:34","modified_gmt":"2023-02-15T14:39:34","slug":"alaska-conservatives-fight-against-ranked-choice-voting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/alaska-conservatives-fight-against-ranked-choice-voting\/","title":{"rendered":"Alaska Conservatives Fight Against \u201cRanked Choice&#8221; Voting"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">14<\/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-conservatives-fight-against-ranked-choice-voting%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=1847800&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-->\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Sarah_Palin_51248961465.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-Image-inserted\" alt=\"image\"   style=\"display:none\"><\/div>\n<p>In the lead-up to the 2020 election, out-of-state dark money poured into Alaska to hijack the state\u2019s elections by tricking voters into implementing a ranked-choice voting system. Now, following a midterm election fraught with<a href=\"https:\/\/alaskawatchman.com\/2022\/12\/09\/alaskas-ranked-choice-election-marred-by-record-low-turnout-mass-confusion\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> record-low turnout<\/a> and confused voters, Alaska\u2019s conservatives are fighting to take back control of their state\u2019s electoral process.<\/p>\n<p>It is also known as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.alaskansforhonestelections.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Alaskans for Honest Elections<\/a>, the grassroots organization is leading a statewide signature-collecting effort to put an initiative on the 2024 ballot to repeal Alaska\u2019s ranked-choice voting (RCV) system, which voters <a href=\"https:\/\/ballotpedia.org\/Alaska_Ballot_Measure_2,_Top-Four_Ranked-Choice_Voting_and_Campaign_Finance_Laws_Initiative_(2020)\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">It was only narrowly accepted<\/a> 2020 Last month, Alaska Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom <a href=\"https:\/\/www.elections.alaska.gov\/petitions\/22AKHE\/22AKHE%20Ballot%20Measure%20Application%20Review%20AG%20Opinion.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Certified<\/a> the group\u2019s application for a petition to repeal RCV, meaning the organization may now begin collecting signatures from voters across the state. The group must obtain <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-admin\/post.php?post=287118&#038;action=edit\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Nearly 27,000 valid Signatures<\/a> In order to have the initiative appear on the ballot for 2024 contest.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve put together over 5,000 volunteers who will be gathering [signatures] all over the state,\u201d Art Mathias, who\u2019s helping spearhead the signature drive, told The Federalist. \u201cWe\u2019re going to be at several outdoor shows, boating shows.\u201d Volunteers are always available \u201cgo to their friends, to their churches, to the shopping malls. Wherever people come through, [they\u2019ll] collect signatures.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Critics call it RCV. \u201crigged-choice voting,\u201d Voters rank candidates according to their preference. If no candidate receives a majority of first-choice votes in the first round of voting, the last-place finisher is eliminated, and his votes are reallocated to the voter\u2019s second-choice candidate. The process continues until one candidate is elected to the majority.<\/p>\n<p>RCV has the potential to pose a problem in terms of <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2023\/01\/11\/ranked-choice-voting-keeps-rigging-elections\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ballot exhaustion<\/a>This is when a ballot has been cast. \u201cbut does not count toward the end election result.\u201d This could happen when voters fail to rank all candidates on the ballot. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/abs\/pii\/S0261379414001395\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">studies<\/a> They have been shown.<\/p>\n<p>While the 2020 RCV initiative, known as Ballot Measure 2, was sold to Alaskans as an effort to keep outside dark money from influencing the state\u2019s elections, it was out-of-state funding that helped push the initiative over the finish line. An <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/politics\/2020\/10\/25\/out-state-billionaires-funding-ranked-choice-voting-campaign-alaska\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">October 2020 report<\/a> Breitbart news, for example, reported that Yes on 2 for Better Elections, which is a pro-RCV organization, raised more money from outside Alaska (6,194,081) than it did within Alaska (20,000).<\/p>\n<p>RCV \u201cbecomes an invitation for exceeding amounts of dark money to come in and put forth a candidate that nobody knows,\u201d Mathias said. \u201cAlaskans are tired of being manipulated by rich people from outside [the state who] think they can tell us what to do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Democrat Mary Peltola was elected to the 2022 midterms. <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/09\/01\/sarah-palin-should-blame-lisa-murkowski-for-her-special-election-loss\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">It was defeated<\/a> former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin in the race for Alaska\u2019s at-large congressional district as a result of ranked-choice voting. The RCV system also made a difference in the state\u2019s Senate race, where incumbent GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski fended off a challenge from Trump-backed Kelly Tshibaka. As The Federalist\u2019s Tristan Justice <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/09\/09\/alaskas-ranked-choice-voting-scheme-was-a-plot-to-save-murkowski-but-it-also-doomed-palin\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reported<\/a>, Murkowski\u2019s allies were heavily involved in the push for Alaska to adopt RCV as a way to bolster the incumbent senator\u2019s reelection prospects.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.adn.com\/politics\/2023\/01\/23\/tshibaka-joins-palin-in-effort-to-fight-ranked-choice-voting\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Both<\/a> Since then, Palin and Tshibaka support Alaska&#8217;s repeal of RCV. Tshibaka has recently formed. <a href=\"https:\/\/preservedemocracy.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Preserve Democracy<\/a>A nonprofit organization dedicated to \u201cfighting the spread of Ranked Choice Voting and increasing voter turnout.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Legislative Efforts To Repeal RCV<\/h2>\n<p>Ballot Measure 2 was passed in Alaska. This is in addition to the efforts of grassroots activists. The Republican legislators in Alaska are also trying to reverse many of these changes.<\/p>\n<p>Below <a href=\"https:\/\/www.akleg.gov\/PDF\/33\/Bills\/SB0002A.PDF\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">SB 2<\/a>The bill, introduced by Mike Shower, a state senator, would allow Alaska to repeal RCV and return it to a closed primary system, where only voters are allowed. \u201cregistered as affiliated with a political party may vote that party\u2019s ballot.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA voter registered as nonpartisan or undeclared rather than as affiliated with a particular political party may vote the political party ballot of the voter\u2019s choice unless prohibited from doing so under AS 15.25.015,\u201d The bill is as follows: \u201cA voter registered as affiliated with a political party may not vote the ballot of a different political party unless\u201d State law allows them to do this.<\/p>\n<p>While speaking with The Federalist, Shower described the feedback he\u2019s received from his constituents over Alaska\u2019s ranked-choice voting system, noting how \u201cabout 90 percent or more\u201d of the people at his first town hall event for this year\u2019s legislative session \u201cwere like, \u2018Ditch this thing we hate.&#8217;\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis rhetoric you\u2019re hearing from Alaskans for Better Elections, from certain legislators in Alaska, and others [shows they] are living in the dream world that they have created for themselves; that they want to believe that [RCV is] this glowing example and that the public supports it,\u201d Shower. \u201cI truly believe if [Alaska] held a vote tomorrow to repeal ranked-choice voting that it would pass.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Shower continued to point out how RCV often disenfranchises segments that left-wing electoral groups often label as marginalized like racial minorities or non-English speaking voters. <a href=\"https:\/\/news.sfsu.edu\/archive\/news-story\/ranked-choice-voting-linked-lower-voter-turnout.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Studies<\/a> This is based on the analysis of voting patterns in U.S. towns that use ranked-choice vote. <\/p>\n<p>According to a <a href=\"https:\/\/alaskapolicyforum.org\/2020\/10\/rcv-disenfranchises-voters\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Report<\/a> from the Alaska Policy Forum, for example, after San Francisco, California, implemented an RCV system, voter turnout decreased among black and white voters, as well as those who were younger or didn\u2019t have a high school education. Similar trends were observed in Minneapolis and Oakland. \u201cvoters in predominately minority precincts were less likely to fully utilize their ballots, making ballot exhaustion more likely.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A companion bill for SB 2 (known as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.akleg.gov\/basis\/Bill\/Detail\/33?Root=HB%201\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">HB 1.<\/a>) has also been introduced in the state\u2019s House of Representatives by GOP Reps. George Rauscher, Kevin McCabe, and Sarah Vance.<\/p>\n<h2>Challenges Ahead<\/h2>\n<p>Despite being a reliably Republican jurisdiction, Alaska\u2019s current political dynamics \u2014 particularly in the state Senate \u2014 make advancing any meaningful election-integrity legislation somewhat difficult.<\/p>\n<p>While Republicans outnumber Democrats in the upper chamber (11-9), eight GOP senators have abandoned their more conservative colleagues to form a majority coalition with the body\u2019s nine Democrats. According to <a href=\"https:\/\/alaskapublic.org\/2022\/11\/29\/in-new-bipartisan-alaska-senate-majority-of-17-members-vow-compromise-and-consensus\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Alaska Public Media<\/a>, the Senate\u2019s leadership is composed of GOP Majority Leader Cathy Giessel and Senate President Gary Stevens, as well as Democrat Sen. Bill Wielechowski, who is chairman of the Rules Committee and coordinates with Stevens about \u201cwhich bills are voted upon.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>During an interview with The Federalist, Shower, who didn\u2019t join the ruling coalition, noted how opposition to RCV doesn\u2019t fall along party lines and that \u201cnot all of the Democrats support ranked-choice voting.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s some [Democrats] that are kind of in the middle, and then there\u2019s actually a few Republicans that are in on it,\u201d He said. \u201cA couple of the [GOP senators] that are going to tell you it\u2019s great and they love it got [elected] Because of ranked-choice vote. They know that if there had been an ordinary primary, they wouldn&#8217;t have won. So they\u2019re going to support ranked-choice voting because to them it\u2019s a political advantage.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not about philosophical positions or the positions of a party platform. This is about personal power,\u201d He concluded.<\/p>\n<p>While SB 2\u2019s prospects for passage in the upper chamber remain in question, Stevens has publicly indicated support for keeping RCV in place for the time being, telling the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.adn.com\/politics\/2023\/01\/10\/alaska-lawmakers-pre-file-bills-to-repeal-ranked-choice-voting\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Anchorage Daily News<\/a> last month he \u201cthink[s] it worked fine\u201d That the state \u201cshould give it a chance to see if it works in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Legislators are needed \u201cvery cautious and skeptical of efforts to install ranked-choice voting into [their] state because it actually does suppress the votes of very vulnerable groups,\u201d Shower. \u201cAll is not well here [in Alaska], and they should be advised of that.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n<p>\n Shawn Fleetwood is a Staff writer at The Federalist. He is also a graduate of The University of Mary Washington. He is also a Convention of States Action state content writer. His work has been featured on numerous outlets including RealClearPolitics and RealClearHealth. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the lead-up to the 2020 election, out-of-state dark money poured into Alaska to hijack the state\u2019s elections by tricking voters into implementing a ranked-choice voting system. Now, following a midterm election fraught with record-low turnout and confused voters, Alaska\u2019s conservatives are fighting to take back control of their state\u2019s electoral process. It is also &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1845767,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[547],"tags":[8320,3925,4539,4004,16212,4351],"class_list":["post-1847800","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-bongino-report","tag-alaska","tag-choice","tag-conservatives","tag-fight","tag-ranked","tag-voting"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1847800","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=1847800"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1847800\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1845767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1847800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1847800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1847800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}