Alaska’s official ranked-choice ballot flyer shows you how to vote for ‘Harris’ first for president

74
The flyer sent to voters shows that presidential candidate "Harris" is the first choice

A flyer received by Alaska voters from the Division of Elections shows them how to vote in the ranked-choice voting election that is coming up on Nov. 5. The flyer is one of the many expenses that have added millions of dollars to election costs in Alaska. But this informational flyer has an additional aspect that caught the attention of some: The flyer shows people how to rank in the presidential race. There are a number of made up presidential candidate names on the sample ballot. And then there’s the name “Harris.”

“Odem Harris,” to be exact. And the example given to voters to educate them on the ranked-choice process has Harris marked as the voter’s first choice.

Critics contacted Must Read Alaska and said they were surprised; it was either intentional or an example of incompetence, since there is a Harris on the ballot for president. None of the other made up names will be on the actual ballot in November.

Vice President Kamala Harris, although she was not originally nominated by the Democratic Party for president, became the de facto party nominee after President Joe Biden was exposed as being incapable of leading during his debate with Donald Trump in June. The Democrats nominated Harris formally at their August convention on Aug. 19, but had already taken the vote by email and had the delegates pinned down by Aug. 6.

74 COMMENTS

  1. Suzanne, who’s in charge of the Division of Elections? Yada, yada, yada! Let’s fuss about something that really matters. It’s definitely election time: there is nothing too trivial to get excited about.

  2. The Trump crowd ain’t so dense that they must to be told how to hold their pinkies when drinking high tea. They may be mad as hell and have just busted out of the alders, but really, tea time and fine China?

  3. This is another example of our Lt Gov Nancy Dahlstrom not doing her job! The only major responsibility of the Lt Gov is the election.

  4. How was Taylor mentioned twice? Those cheating leftists even recruited the “Swifties” in this obvious corruption. It wouldn’t have surprised me if Barack was in the list of names. Don’t even get me started on LBJ.

    • No, no, Sebastian, don’t drink your tea out of the saucer. I know you’re one of us, so put the saucer down and sip the tea from out of the cup! Don’t slurp…sip. And straighten that pinkie!

  5. Hanlon’s razor says to never assume conspiracy when stupidity will suffice.
    .
    One can only hope this was an oversight. Randomly selected name.
    .
    Then again… knowing the political leaning of the people pushing RCV, I would not be surprised if this was intentional.
    .
    Regardless. If RCV is costing millions more, why are we doing it?

      • I would not be surprised.
        I am reminded of what Willie Sutton said when asked why he robs banks. He said “That is where the money is.”
        Leftists will make their way into positions in the government where they can exert power. Because that is where the power is. I would not be surprised some Dude for Harris fanboi was in charge of the flyer, and deliberately snuck Odem Harris into the mix.

  6. I thought that the presidential election was Federal, not state. How can Alaska use RCV in a presidential election? Should be one person one vote. If Democrats could field a viable candidate there would be no need for these tricks.

    • Jim, I asked before how this is even legal. For some reason, we get to be guinea pigs (along with Maine?) for (s)electing our president by RCV. It is b.s. for sure.

    • That’s what I was thinking. From the Official Election Pamphlet, Region II, Muni of Anc, MSB 11/3/2020 unequivocally states, XThe act does not change the process for president and vice president.” What is going on here?!?

  7. While interesting that Division of Elections want us to vote for Harris as a first choice, more interesting is the timing.

    Received the referenced mailing from Division of Elections yesterday in the mail. Also received a Vote No on 2 flyer. Put the two together, and the No on 2 people are telling you to vote no while Division of Elections is telling you to vote yes on 2 due to the sheer complexity of the ranking process. Don’t think they intended to do that, but it works out that way. Cheers –

    • Division of Elections is telling you to Vote NO on the bill. How do you think that Murkowski, Dunleavy got in this last time for another term? Vote YES on the bill to rid the state of Rank Choice Voting and bring our elections in alignment with the US Constitution and rights to vote a two party system. A two party system is a work in progress for vetting a person to hold office. Performance and integrity actually mean a lot. On the ballot, vote once on each of your choice. Don’t rank anyone.

  8. Some bunheaded twit in the Div of Elections is smugly scoring internet points for doing his part for “The Resistance.”

  9. Alaska, since Trump will be the only Republican candidate for President on the official ballot, you need only vote for Trump. The same goes for Nick Begich as well. Leave all others blank.

    Vote NO on 1, vote YES on 2. Let’s end the leftist madness. 🇺🇸

  10. I received the flyer today, explaining how I ‘should’ vote. Most interesting that a ‘Harris’ was listed as a ‘first’ vote within the example.

    I reckon that I will fill out all the ovals within a straight line, from the 1st choice unto the last, so as not to allow any doubt or ‘after voting altering’ of my voting intention, which will allow me the old school, and appropriate one vote, one choice scenario.

    I encourage all like-minded individuals to do the same, rather than leave ANY open spaces so as to allow the possibility of fraudulent ‘additional’ filled spaces.

    One person. One vote. Across the board.

    Literally.

      • No, Bug, it shall not. My first choice shall stand unless it is cast out as the non-winning vote, just as it would if there were only two choices, and I picked the one that did not win the majority vote.

        Think about it for a moment, within the context of the original intended construct of one individual, one vote. I am, as an individual, voting for one candidate, and one candidate only.

        Either that candidate wins within support of my individual vote, amongst all others, or they do not.

        There is no secondary vote, or choice, just as it has been before this fiasco of multiple-choice options, which allows some ‘random’ logarithm to determine the outcome of an election whereas it should not have existed within the first place.

        My ‘ballot’, as it were, is untarnished. It is pure. There is no other way to interpret it, nor any way to ‘alter’ it.

        A straight line of filled out ovals says one thing, and one thing only. This is the candidate that I choose, with no alternate.

    • Seriously, if you feel the need to fill in all the blanks, fill in all of the ovals for the Trump/Harris team. Only your first vote will count and all of your others will be cancelled because only your first vote counts in that case. See the section labeled “What are mistakes to avoid?” at the elections website at ‘https://www.elections.alaska.gov/election-information/#GENR. The last example states, “Your vote only counts once, even if you rank a candidate more than once. When a candidate is eliminated in a round, they are eliminated from all future rounds,” and shows “Tiffany Strait” has three votes in a row.

    • My above suggestion will indicate who your choice(s) are all across the ballot. This is probably the safest thing to do and not get your ballot adjudicated, which would be even worse because then one or two people would be looking at your ballot and deciding what you actually meant.

    • Don’t give them any reason to toss your ballot out.
      Fill in one oval. Unless you want to rank someone else, but only one oval per candidate, and leave the others blank.
      Or, if you want, put in a write in as 2nd choice. Because I can vote my candidate, AND add a write in (thanks RCV), I always put in a vote for friends.

      • CBMTTek….think about it for a moment…they cannot toss out my ballot for the straight-line vote.

        You are one of the most respected and consequential commenters within this site.

        A blank oval allows a falsely filled oval, no?

        A write in candidate shall do just fine but think about it. ANY, and I mean ANY non-filled in oval is suspect so as to an after filled oval whereas said after filled oval can be attributed unto a wish that the original voter did not intend.

        A straight-line vote cannot be corrupted.

      • CBMTTek, please go to the Division of Elections website and read what they have posted. Randy Lee Harkins’ comments are correct.
        ‘https://www.elections.alaska.gov/election-information/#GENR

  11. Par for the course……. As in every election boo boo, honest mistake, Snaffou………hiccup…….glitch….burst water pipe…. printing error…
    It undoubtedly favors 1000% the same party. The party of the all inclusive and tolerant

  12. She wasn’t originally nominated? While she didn’t participate in any caucus or primary, she was indeed the only one nominated by the delegates. You are smarter than this, so you are either confused or attempting to mislead.

  13. Did Chris Constant and Barb Jones join the state division of elections?
    Maybe someone pulled the fire alarm during the process.
    Can we at least see a picture of the flowers delivered to Barb for all of her hard work?

  14. Well, I guess if people who would otherwise vote for Trump but are swayed by this, it really says something about them.

    • You’re barking up the wrong tree again. It’s a dog whistle to your blue haired mutts. A gentle reminder of who’s actually overseeing (manipulating) this “democratic debacle” we call an election.

  15. We all must keep getting the message out to vote yes on ballot measure 2 while the no-side’s deceptive ads are flooding the airwaves. Since the yes-side has very few funds and the no-side has around $8 million of outside dark money to try to sway the undecided, it’s up to us. I’ve created a series of 30-90 second clips you can share to help. Won’t cost you a dime and only takes a brief moment to do. You can find the series on my page here: Facebook.com/AKShelleyHughes Thanks, everyone! WE CAN DO THIS!

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.