The Juneau Assembly is moving toward adopting ranked-choice voting for future local elections. On June 2, the Assembly unanimously voted in favor of an ordinance proposed by Assembly member Ella Adkison to implement RCV beginning in 2026. The measure will first get a public hearing and final vote scheduled in late July.
Adkison says, without evidence, that the RCV system encourages consensus-building and allows for more nuanced voter expression. The Legislature demonstrates this is false — political observers say they’ve never seen so much dysfunction as this year’s RCV crop of lawmakers. Adkison is a legislative staff member for Juneau state Sen. Jesse Kiehl, raising issues of ethics, access to voter information that citizens don’t have access to, and competing loyalties.
Juneau voters have shown support for ranked-choice voting in the past. When in 2024 a statewide referendum to repeal ranked-choice voting was on the ballot, 61% of voters in Juneau’s District 3 and 74.3% in District 4 voted against repeal. Statewide, the repeal lost by just 664 votes.
If adopted in Juneau, the capital would be the first city in Alaska to use ranked-choice voting in local races, although it would not be ready for this October’s municipal election.
Some of the most cited problems with ranked-choice voting are complexity and delay of results. Unlike traditional elections where voters select a single candidate, RCV requires voters to rank multiple candidates in order of preference. This creates confusion and may discourage participation, particularly among older voters or those less familiar with the process. In many races since it was implemented statewide, it has appeared to suppress both voter and candidate participation.
Unlike traditional elections where winners are typically known on election night, RCV elections often require several days of tabulation and multiple rounds of vote reallocation before a winner is declared. This lag can erode public confidence in the process and open the door to mistrust in election outcomes.
In RCV, ballots that do not rank all candidates may be “exhausted” during the tabulation process, meaning a voter’s ballot no longer counts in the final rounds if all their ranked candidates have been eliminated. In close races, this can result in a candidate winning with fewer total votes than were cast in the first round, undermining the perception of a “majority victory.”
Implementing RCV is not cost-neutral. Municipalities must modify voting systems, retrain poll workers, and launch extensive public education campaigns to ensure voters understand how to fill out their ballots correctly. These upfront costs can be significant, particularly in smaller jurisdictions with limited resources.
Despite these concerns, the Juneau Assembly is planning a public outreach campaign ahead of the July decision. The campaign aims to gather community feedback and educate voters on how the system works. Assembly members have emphasized the importance of public participation in shaping the final decision.
Still, the debate over ranked-choice voting is far from settled in Alaska. While Juneau voters have leaned in favor of the system, another statewide repeal effort is under way in Alaska and other states are now banning the novel and insecure method that is being rapidly adopted by liberal jurisdictions.
Always thought Juneau population favored San Fran, or now LA. but that they have exceeded the level below whale dung with approving RCV on a local level , the soon results will be a hoot to watch.
Yet another reason to rank Juneau with those two mentioned pits of waste as to not ever go there.
Cheers, Johnson-Ketchikan
The ONLY reason we have it is for the cheating Democrats It needs to go, One person one vote! Not that damn hard.
Good luck to the voters of Juneau for the future. Your City will be the next Seattle, or Anchorage of this State.
It’s stupid so we’ll probably do it
It’s so sad that the majority of active voters support this when they only comprise about 10 or 15 percent of the population. Sadly enough the folks that don’t support this are too lazy to vote so this sort of stupidity is forced upon us. We will fight it tooth and nail but will likely lose. The irony will be when our state votes it down.
So many serious issues facing our community like homeless camps/druggies, a failing sewer treatment facility, a privately owned dump that is nearing the end of its capacity, failing schools, unaffordable housing, escalating property taxes etc. and our Assembly goes off on creating another expensive, unnecessary, and divisive directive that they should just leave alone. Epitome of a dysfunctional local Government that has a spending problem and a lack of common sense.
I wonder if Scott Kendall is in town with his election groomer hat on explaining to voters and conservatives to trust him because they’re all just too stupid to to understand RCV.
“Juneau voters have shown support for ranked-choice voting in the past”
These voters and many more Juneau idiotic voters are unbelievably STUPID and have zero clue what they are getting into.
The voters that get it– know fixing elections is a great outcome with RCV
It’s all a RUSE
Don’t fall for it
RCVoting belongs in the dumper
Come on Juneau –Show some COMMON SENSE