The second effort to repeal ranked-choice voting began its next big phase on Saturday, with the signature-gathering effort launched at the Governor’s Prayer Breakfast in Anchorage. Petition books have been distributed across the state by the group REPEAL NOW, which is headed up by Bernadette Wilson, Bethany Marcum, and Judy Eledge.
The first effort to repeal ranked-choice voting was vastly outspent by opponents with Outside dark money, yet came within a few hundred signatures from repealing the novel voting method put in place — again, with dark money supporters — in 2020.
REPEAL NOW’s campaign focuses on educating voters about the complexities inherent the RCV system, which is confusing and ends up with many more spoiled and uncounted ballots than regular voting. This time, the REPEAL NOW group is doing a straight repeal of the 2020 law that voters passed through initiative.
The signature-gathering process is formidable. To succeed, REPEAL NOW must collect signatures from at least 10% of the number of voters who participated in the last general election, distributed across three-fourths of Alaska’s House districts. This equates to approximately 35,000 valid signatures statewide.
The next big event where signatures will be gathered will be the Mat-Su Outdoorsman Show, Arpril 11-13 in Wasilla. But other signature books will be circulating in communities from Ketchikan to Utqiagvik.
Once collected, these signatures will be submitted to the Division of Elections for verification. If validated, the repeal measure will appear on the 2026 ballot, allowing Alaskans to vote on whether to retain or discard the RCV system.
To learn more about REPEAL NOW, head to this link.
Questions and correspondence can be directed to [email protected]
The group is now planning to raise funds to educate the public about the choice between the current system of voting in Alaska, which Democrats and Sen. Lisa Murkowski support, and the regular method of voting that American voters have used since voting began in 1788’s with the election of George Washington as the nation’s first president.
