Sarah Palin, who filed for Congress on April 1 to fill the seat of the late Congressman Don Young, seems genuinely surprised at Alaska’s crazy new voting system. On her Instagram page, it’s almost as if she had not been paying attention for the past two years to the mischief that Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s former campaign team had put together — a wild and wooly jungle primary with no party sideboards, and a Ranked Choice Voting general election. Voters approved Ballot Measure 2 in 2020, as they were told it would remove Outside “dark money” from elections.
Palin also mentioned the mess with Ranked Choice Voting on the Mike Porcaro Show on Tuesday, saying Alaskans had been “snookered” into approving it as a ballot measure. On the show, she declined to endorse Gov. Mike Dunleavy.
In her Instagram post, Palin used a photo of herself that harkens back to the days when she was running for Vice President with Sen. John McCain. She wore a lace-hemmed skirt and spike heels and the crowd grasped at her hands. Her post referenced a column by Tuckerman Babcock, former Alaska Republican Party Chairman, in Must Read Alaska, which describes the nightmare that Ballot Measure 2 has created in Alaska.
Palin is in a field of 48 candidates that include Nick Begich III (R), the grandson of the last Alaskan to serve in Congress before Don Young. Also running are Don Young’s campaign co-chairs for 2022, Tara Sweeney and Josh Revak, both Republicans. Al Gross is running as a no-party candidate but has the support of the Democrats. John Coghill, a former state senator from Fairbanks, and Andrew Halcro, a former state representative from Anchorage, are also known names in Alaska. The primary election for the temporary place holding seat for Congress is June 11. The top four vote-getters will proceed to the Aug. 16 special general election, to be held on the same day as the regular primary election.
She isn’t the only one just taking in the surprise, if most alaskans knew they’d be worried especially minority groups, and the non white political active are silent just as palin it has yet to discuss the implications against their communities. Cause the next state leaders elected could be a real bozo and racist on minority issues.
Why would this new system effect minorities differently than the previous system.
The new system, while most certainly flawed has nothing to do with race.
Why in this day and age must we continue to look through every thing through a racial lense?
I had the same reaction to Jen’s comment.
Well we’re a protected class ostensibly most likely to encounter voting barricades before others historically, factually and legally so noticed. It’s unfortunate. If any new novel voting scheme interferes to effect unduly our native voting subsection they will be obliged to take a look at it. It negatjvely impacted me out of this process this time. And last time took my representation completely away ewith oblivion and impunity and I’m sensing a trend. This is the malicious intended effect. Jen probably assumed you knew the Alaska voting history. She is quite right to bring it up. Thank you, Jen.
“………it’s almost as if she had not been paying attention for the past two years to the mischief that Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s former campaign team had put together……….”
As if all the really smart people who punched “yes” to this scheme on their ballot are somehow free of responsibility? Well, actually, maybe they are………if one considers the certainty that they were manipulated by the media to vote that way……….
“Voters approved Ballot Measure 2 in 2020….”
THIS voter did not approve of this monstrosity.
I voted against it.
I want only in-person, one day voting, with the exception of military members who are residents of our state, but are currently stationed out of state, and allowed to vote by absentee ballot.
And I look for to you telling us more about Nick Begich III, Suzanne.
Ditto!
The next question needs to be:
Where were you Sarah? Didn’t you vote on ballot measure 2, since you claim to be an Alaskan?
Thank Mike Porcaro for his endorsement of Ranked Choice Voting on his Radio show
Porcaro will never concede to his responsibility in the passage of this atrocity, either.
Phil, I agree. Hiring Mr. Porcaro’s firm to do the ad campaign for ballot measure 2, was a stroke of evil genius. It put Mr. Porcaro in a compromised position and it showed on his show. This topic was rarely discussed. I further find it hypocritical of him to now complain about the chaos it created.
Yup. Did he mention that to her during the interview?
I know his business exists to market things for people. Fine. What annoyed me was his acting like this was a great thing and would sweep conservatives into office.
It was inappropriate for him to push it on the radio while pushing it in private business.
And his leftist, anti Joe Miller, pro Lisa Murkowski stance…
Mike Porcaro should have competition for his radio program and radio station business. Yesterday, I listened to his afternoon radio program from 4:00 to 5:00 only because I wanted to hear the updated election results. In that hour, there were MANY more advertisements than actual dialog and no reporting. And he does appear to be playing from both sides of the ranked choice voting debacle.
Isn’t there somebody “out there” to provide us with the benefits that would come from competition??
FYI, the Muni Clerk does not release updated results until AFTER 5pm, so no new results were available during the time you listened.
Mike Porcaro is a Lib on a conservative radio station, I wish he would just come clean about his support for Measure 2
This is the first time she’s paid any attention to state political issues since 2009.
Good article. President Donald J. Trump is a great guy. One in a bazillion. He judges men by himself. Other lesser men won’t do what what he will do. He knows that. What he can’t calculate is how full of nonsense all Alaskan women are. They all reserve the right to do whatever stupid thing they want to do whenever they want just because they want to do it no matter how stupid or who is negatively impacted. Lisa wouldn’t back a guy who is committed to her state because she and the democrats believed in error they have superior composite personalities than Donald J Trump’s excellent personality. I believe Palin is of the same ilk and will do the exact same capers she has always pulled on all others heretofore. Trump should talk candidly with Sen.Sullivan. A (kinda) “good” guy will back Trump’s patriotic plays more reliably than a surprising Alaskan vixon wanna be ever can or will. Kelly Tshibaka is an unusual exception because she has intelligence, loyality and conservative, integrated values intact.
“What he can’t calculate is how full of nonsense all Alaskan women are.” Tough claim to defend G Galeutian.
What’s so tuff about it. (Alaskan ) Men have several typical theories that are true often enough to be helpful therefore valid. Why would there not also be any vorresponding archetypical (Alaskan) female? My family has been amply cursed with them. Shall I go on? Divorce=I own the children; men are in service to me because I am so very special, girls are just better than boys mamma said. None of these beliefs are ever corrected.
Interesting that you are attempting to impersonate someone else, within a closely matched name, though in no way a closely matched terminology or verbiage, and that you and auto are working in conjunction to present a message that is so farfetched so as to be unbelievable to any individual paying attention, but that is what those of your ilk do, is it not? Obfuscate the truth and lie as unto truth…sigh…
Unfortunately, the vast majority of voters are NOT fully informed. This statement includes any so-called conservative that voted for RCV.
This is exactly the kind of crap we don’t need in Alaska government. More idiots like Palin who want to be involved but choose to Not pay attention to what is going on around her. Typical.
Ranked choice voting with jungle primaries.
Lets have a rational discussion without rhetoric.
It allows a larger section of the unfinanced alaskans to get on the ballot.
Its will tend to allow fresh minds and ideas in .
It challenges the status qoa defeating the democrat rhino gridlock.
Its the best opertunity for Alaskans to be accurately represented since statehood.
It raises the odds of sending ethical strong people to Washington versus just smooth talking people with connections.
It very well could bring our state together due to the reduction on dependence of party loyalty while electing in an abstract method that draws from both sides / ranked.
Originally our president and Vice President were picked in a ranked choice voter similarity. The president became the person with most votes . Vice President with second most votes. This helped make everyone feel included . It reduced the insanity of far left far right and made near everyone have the potential for representation. The huge win loose swings we have now are damaging and disfunctional.
Our Vice President should have been the one who represented other ideas and options. Thus balanced the vote in Congress and made counting electors in a national election accurate again and not ceremonial.
Giving our jungle primary and rank choice voting a slandering name without rational thought is misleading.
“rank choice voting is misleading.” And should be repealed.
Alaska has been and is continually being Californicated.
Ranked-choice voting races can create more exhausted ballots than ballots that are awarded to the winner of an election. For example, the 2010 election for San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors in District 10 resulted in 9,608 exhausted ballots whereas the prevailing candidate only received 4,321 votes.[11] More striking, there were 1,300 more ballots that were exhausted than were awarded to a candidate at the end of the 20th round of tabulation.[12] This phenomenon is illustrated in Figure 2.
Marlin,
Explain what you meant.
Leave out the californication.
Why should Marlin do that? All you offer are 5 second sound bites with no supporting evidence. Put up or shut up.
I believe the Californication issue explains it precisely, as to what can, and will happen.
And is English your primary language? Reading your missive, it appears not.
Also, the President and Vice President electoral vote ranking ended in 1804, but you do realize, that within that scenario, Trump would now be Vice President, do you not?
And that with the 25th Amendment looming deservedly over Joe, Trump would again take the reins without an actual election, and still be able to serve 4 more years as President after the remaining time left of the ousted dementia ladled Joe?
How does that situation cook your noodle, american?
Interesting analysis. Respectfully I disagree.
You are correct, initially it allows more Alaskans to get on the ballot. However with 48 names on the list, it becomes overwhelming for the average voter to discern all the different platforms. It will be a name recognition/popularity contest. With smaller party primaries at least you have a smaller pool and candidates can debate each other. I want to see a debate with all 48 candidates on the stage. (Shades of 2015 and the GOP presidential race anyone?)
Smaller parties like the independent party no longer have the chance to get a candidate to the general.
You claim that it will provide new ideas and get ethical people elected. In theory maybe. Reality is that once you have made it to the final 4 all those candidates without funds will be steam rolled by the likes of the democratic party machine with op-research, phone banks for manipulative polling, mailings etc. No un-financed candidate can match that. Raising funds in a group of 48 without much support is a daunting task, regardless of ideas.
As for RCV, I don’t want to settle for second or third best. If you have a candidate you believe in and decide that you can only vote for that person, you will be immediately disenfranchised, by exhausting your ballot.
The greatest negative for RCV is that, the results CAN NOT be verified with a hand count. You need an advanced mathematics degree to at least grasp it. That alone makes it non-transparent or in my opinion open to manipulation.
As for your historical reference, the system to have the VP determined by who was the runner-up, caused considerable instability and strife within the administrations and was therefore abandoned early on.
Can you provide actual proof of any of that?
American
How did “Must Read Alaska” ever allow your comment to remain up? Diversity of opinion is not exactly their strong point; someone must have been asleep at the switch. I doubt my comment here will ever survive their filter. That said, I’ll have to admit that I read and benefit a lot from “Must Read Alaska” because reading and considering opinions different from my own is IMHO critical.
I’m saddened by the fact that our Lt. governor and governor refused to look into the integrity of our election system. Without knowing that our votes count, whats the point? Maybe the new governor will make our election system secure and trustworthy.
If one good thing comes of this, it appears that Palin visits the Must Read Alaska site. If she reads any of the comments, she may realize that true conservatives aren’t interested in what she’s selling.
Brad- what does conservative mean any more?
Is voting Republican conservative?
One party is not solely responsible for the 30t of debt. DJT added over 6t to that debt. One party is not solely responsible for the Patriot Act. One party is not solely responsible for protecting faceless bureaucrats. One party is not solely responsible for 20 yrs of war. One party is not solely responsible for protecting corporations with bailouts and regulations.
Itstimealaska.com
Palin is a loser. A vote for her makes you a loser too. “Ranked choice voting” and mail in only ballots with no signature sucks, big time. Watch what the leftists do with it. Registered conservatives outnumber registered leftists two or more to one in Alaska. Where the hell are they? Without standing up for conservative values, I guess “quiet”, or “closet”, maybe pseudo, conservatives deserve to lose. Too bad they will take all Alaska with them through intimidation and manipulation by the left.
You have to hand it to Sarah, she is good at manipulating her image to sell certain sectors of the voting public. That picture above is is an example of this manipulation. SEX SELLS!, Sarah knows damn well that NBIII doesn’t look good in high heels. Forget the content of her message, it’s the one off glance of a photo that captures attention.
Sadly, to fulfill her narcissist desires Sarah deems it important to jump into a Congressional race on April Fools day. Her message and understanding of the issues are uncultivated and solely based upon generalities and devoid of real thought or reason. But, damn, she’s Sarah Palin! Star Power, one might argue is important. Problem is, Star Power and being on Fox News will not win the day for Alaska. Electing someone with real life experiences in business and building relationships with people will serve us much better. Sarah has none of that. Maybe because she is so full of herself she has little room left in that” Purdy little head of hers” for how the world really works?
What Sarah has, is the ability to destroy. She will ultimately insure the election of the worst most suitable candidate , Allen Gross. Don’t believe me? Look for Gross to get swamped with outside cash and by dividing the vote between NBIII, SARAH PALIN and the other 40 plus candidates, Allen “I got the Cajones” Gross walks away with the election.
Thanks Sarah.
Sadly, the wording used in the ranked voting measure fooled a lot of people. I told my brother to look at who’s funding the campaign to get it passed. Never Trumper, swampy Republicans. That clarified it for me.
I agree with American above. Why can’t ranked choice voting haters stop the name calling and explain exactly why this will hurt us conservatives? Because libs vote like robots while cons are too disunified to stick with a few top-tier candidates? I just don’t get it.
Rank choice voting has its flaws, but this gives Normal Alaskans Like Chris Bye a opportunity to give Alaskan another choice. Other wise we are stuck with the same good ol’ boy system.
Palin is still hot. Vote Palin
Palin still hot? Need to get your glasses checked PJ! Picture is 14 years old. Last picture of Palin looked like she’d had some plastic surgery done…
Look folks, how does anyone know if Measure 2 was really passed by the voters. Because the State says so? Come on, it was behind thousands of votes the night before they suddenly said it passed. We had mail-in voting on top of Dominion Machines for that election. Look what is happening in the lower 48 Battleground States. Massive amounts of voter fraud is being uncovered due to a plethora of issues. Did Measure 2 really pass or was it pushed over the threshold by voter fraud? I will not vote for, nor do I trust Dunleavy. He has done nothing to look into Alaska’s election system and make necessary changes to secure our votes. We do not need mass mail-in voting or the hackable Dominion Machines. We do need signature verification and an I.D. to vote. The State should create special ballots that can’t be duplicated or copied without obvious signs of foul play. Our voter rolls must be cleaned by the State, not an organization like ERIC.
From Gateway-Pundit:
For decades the Democrats and leftists have fought ferociously to prevent the cleanup of State voter registration rolls. Recognizing a potential niche, left wing activists created ERIC to clean voter rolls their way, using their rules. So in 2012 the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC) was formed as a membership organization primarily for blue States. ERIC is essentially a left wing voter registration drive disguised as voter roll clean up. But it’s been gaining traction in Red States too. Originally funded by the Soros Open Society, it is now responsible for cleaning the voter rolls in 31 States, plus D.C. A top election official from each member State is appointed a seat on the ERIC Board or as an Officer, all unpaid positions.
ERIC located 17 million new voters for the 2020 election, the most in the history of their organization. For comparison, they only found 5.7 million in 2012, Obama’s reelection.
The ERIC database is comprehensive and would be one of the most coveted by bad actors looking to influence an election. Member States must not only submit all details on inactive and active voters to ERIC every 60 days. But they must also provide every individual in their state’s Motor Vehicle Department database, both licensed and ID recipients. This combo of data is breathtaking. It’s everyone who could generate a legal ballot. It includes those approaching voting age, even those here illegally yet issued an ID by their left-leaning State. This data includes names, addresses, DOB, License #, last 4 of social #, voter activity, phone, email, title and type of citizenship documentation, and much more!
ERIC doesn’t just manage lists, they demand action. But it’s not the action you would expect, like cleaning voter rolls. ERIC provides each member State a targeted list of people that are not registered to vote. The Membership Bylaws require the State to contact at least 95% of these people within 90 days, soliciting them to register. ERIC also wants specific registration profiles updated and requires the State to contact these voters within 90 days too. It’s essentially a left-wing voter registration drive all paid for by the States, not the Democrat Party. The membership fee is $25,000 but costs can run into the millions to fund the activities and membership dues.
Oddly, ERIC has no requirement or mandate that member States clean up their voter rolls. States are only “strongly encouraged” to request ERIC’s voter updates at least once a year. If a member fails to make a request in 425 days, the data will be sent automatically. What’s even more odd, and seemingly corrupt, is that ERIC does NOT want to know who is voting illegally. Their rules explain that “Under no circumstances shall the members transmit any record indicating an individual is a non-citizen of the U.S.” as stated in Exhibit A, 2b. If ERIC hears no evil, then they see no evil.
From the State Div of Elections website:
Who else uses Ranked Choice Voting?
Seventeen U.S. cities including San Francisco, Santa Fe, and Minneapolis use Ranked Choice Voting, in addition to the State of Maine who uses it for all federal races. It is also used by the Academy Awards.
That’s just great …
Whereas, the Republican Party of Alaska believes in and supports the principles of Democracy, Fairness and Majority Rule, and
Whereas, Alaskan voters should be able to vote their conscience without fear of wasting their vote or helping elect candidates they least prefer, and
Whereas, Instant Runoff Voting [a.k.a. ranked choice voting] eliminates majority voters splitting their votes among similar candidates allowing a candidate with only minority appeal to win, and
Whereas, Instant Runoff Voting eliminates spoilers, those candidates with little chance of winning who can knock off more representative candidates, and
Whereas, Instant Runoff Voting insures majority rule without having the expense of a runoff election
Now therefore be it resolved that the Republican Party of Alaska fully supports the Instant Runoff Voting initiative proposition appearing on the August, 2002 Primary Election Ballot.
(Adopted by the Republican Party of Alaska in State Convention on May 18, 2002)
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