JUNIAU, Alaska (AP) — Alaska’s new election system — with open primaries and ranked-choice voting — has provided a model for those in other states frustrated by political polarization and the sense that voters have no real choice at the ballot box.
The changes, first implemented in 2022, helped propel the first Alaska Native to a seat in Congress. They can be short-lived.
Opponents of ranked-choice voting want to repeal it and are embroiled in a legal battle over whether their initiative can stand on Alaska’s November ballot. It’s just one example this year of an intensifying fight over an expanded way for voters to choose candidates, driven in part by deep dissatisfaction with the status quo and opposition from political parties and partisan groups fearful of losing power.
Voters in at least two states — Democratic-leaning Oregon and Nevada — will decide this fall whether to institute new election processes, including ranked-choice voting. In deeply conservative Idaho, groups are pushing for a November ballot initiative that would overturn a ban on ranked-choice voting passed by the Republican Legislature last year. Measures proposing ranked-choice voting, also called ranked-choice voting, are also being pursued in Colorado and the District of Columbia.
In Missouri, a Republican Party-controlled legislature will ask voters in November whether they should ban ranked-choice voting. This follows a failed citizen effort in 2022 to get an Alaska-style system in front of voters. At least nine states have banned ranked-choice voting, and Louisiana’s legislature also passed a ban this past week.
The efforts to introduce a new way to elect leaders and the backlash from those with established power are symptoms of dissatisfaction with the country’s politics and concerns about the future of democracy, said AJ Simmons, research director of the Center for State Policy and Leadership from the Center for State Policy and Leadership. University of Illinois Springfield, who has written about this issue.
“We have a group of frustrated, concerned people looking for a solution to the problems they see,” he said. “At least some have come around to the idea of, ‘Could it be how we choose our leaders that is leading to this problem?’”
Only two states use ranked voting: Maine for state and federal elections, and Alaska for state and federal general election contests. Many U.S. cities, including New York, San Francisco and Minneapolis, use ranked-choice voting, while Portland, Oregon plans to start using it this fall. A yearlong pilot program in Utah allows cities there to hold local elections with ranked-choice voting.
Proponents see ranked-choice voting as a more inclusive process that gives voters more choice and reduces negative campaigning, because candidates need a coalition of support to be successful.
In Alaska, ranked ballots are counted in rounds: a candidate can win immediately during the first counting round if he receives more than 50% of the votes. If no one meets that threshold, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated. Voters who selected that candidate as their top choice will count toward their next choice. The rounds continue until two candidates remain, and then the one with the most votes wins.
It’s difficult to conclude how ranked voting changes elections because the systems often differ from place to place, making comparisons difficult, Simmons said.
Alaska has a primary system in which the top four votes in a race, regardless of party, advance to a general election using ranked-choice voting. Nevada and Idaho’s proposals are similar, while Oregon would keep its primaries closed and limit ranked voting to federal and top statewide contests, including those for governor.
Whether ranked voting is a successful antidote to voter apathy and anger is unclear, but many are open to the idea.
“I believe in the marketplace of ideas, and if there is no real competition, the ability for people to really debate, to get really good answers, because one side just doesn’t have to pay attention, we suffer. So if ranked-choice voting helps do that, that’s great,” said Brett DeLange, an Idaho voter and retired deputy attorney general.
While Oregon’s proposal emerged from the Democratic-led legislature, in many cases the party in power does not like ranked-choice voting because of the uncertainty it injects into election results.
Republicans in Idaho, who control the Legislature and hold all statewide offices, have attacked the proposed grassroots initiative there. Republican Party Chairman Dorothy Moon called it “a pernicious plot to take away your ability to vote for conservative lawmakers.”
A state lawmaker tried unsuccessfully to derail the system by proposing an amendment to the Idaho Constitution that would limit all elections to one ballot; State Attorney General Raul Labrador lost a lawsuit filed by promoters after they said he gave it a biased title.
In the District of Columbia, the Democratic Party unsuccessfully sued to stop the proposed ranked-choice voting initiative, claiming in part that it violated the city’s charter, which requires top officials to be elected on a partisan basis.
Sondra Cosgrove, a history professor at the College of Southern Nevada who supports her state’s ranked voting initiative, has kept a close eye on Alaska’s system. She said many voters feel political parties have too much control and don’t feel like they have a real choice.
“We have some races where there’s one person, and then we have other races where there’s 15 people and they’re all shouting crazy things. And my students say, ‘Why can’t we have something in the middle?'” said Cosgrove, who is also executive director of the civic engagement nonprofit Vote Nevada.
In Alaska, those on both sides of the ranked-choice debate cite Democrat Mary Peltola’s success two years ago. She defeated former Gov. Sarah Palin and Nick Begich, both Republicans, in special and regular elections for the state’s only U.S. House district, following the death of Republican Don Young, who had held the seat for 49 years.
Kay Brown, a Democrat, said she was initially skeptical about ranked voting but believes it should be used for at least a few more election cycles so voters can evaluate it fairly. She said Peltola’s win was significant.
“I would have to say I can’t really argue with the results we’ve seen,” Brown said.
Phil Izon, leader of the effort to repeal ranked-choice voting, said his grandfather’s confusion about how the system works prompted him to research it and then write the repeal initiative, which has been shrouded in controversy. It is the subject of a legal challenge to keep it off the November ballot, with arguments in the case scheduled for Tuesday.
Some people are more likely to vote for just one person, which could lead to ballots being exhausted “prematurely” and lead to “unpredictable outcomes” such as Peltola winning the House of Representatives seat, said Izon, who said he did not affiliates with a political party. party.
Amber Lee, an independent and one of the plaintiffs suing to keep the repeal initiative off the ballot, says the ranked voting system gives voters greater choice.
“I think it’s worth giving this more time,” she said. “We’re not making progress in Alaska…with the way we’ve been doing things.”
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Boone reported from Boise, Idaho. Associated Press writer Claire Rush in Portland, Oregon, contributed to this report.
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