By Miles Garrod
To my fellow Alaskan conservatives:
What has been gained by the campaigns against ranked choice and the open primary? What else could that money, time, and political capital have accomplished? And what exactly was so darned conservative about the party-controlled primary system we had before?
The system was only adopted thirty years prior in 1992, replacing our open “blanket” primary system that had been used since the ’60s.
The talking points against the new system seem to be based on a feeling that Alaska ought to come out redder than it does— but it never has in my lifetime. The closed primary system delivered federal pork hounds Stevens and Young term after term. Then, as the Tea Party emerged (a movement I supported), Joe Miller was a gambit to elevate someone redder through the party primary, but the old guard, understanding the general electorate well, took that bet happily and won on write-ins with a four-point spread.
This state as it stands just isn’t that red. It’s a state that returned to open primaries to continue the predictable election of culturally agnostic, pro-development politicians that bring home the bacon.
There is no world where we can exploit electoral mechanics to sustain governance that is redder than any popular majority in the state. To think otherwise is fantasy. If we want to move society, we have to see our state with ruthless clarity and work to win hearts and minds the old-fashioned way.
All of that said, I believe we must still promote two improvements to elections that could find broad support. Firstly, the deadline for mailed ballots should be two weeks before voting day to enable final counting and run-off tabulations on election day. This delay has been an irksome feature of our elections long before ranking, notably in 2008 between Stevens and Begich.
Secondly, the former candidate signature requirement should be reinstated to avoid shamefully unserious ballot packers like Dan J. This could also be achieved through a mechanism that drops all candidates that win less than 5% in the open primary— not simply allowing the top four.
Lastly, the Alaskan Republican Party must strive to educate anyone sincerely confused by the ranking system. I am tired of hearing people who have no trouble navigating hunting regulations, retirement investments, and fantasy football expressing defiant confusion about the basic structure of ranked choice. And I hate to think that Senator Sullivan wouldn’t be hanging in the balance this week if people had been more forthright about it.
The views expressed are the author’s.
