The Alaska primary election ends on Aug. 20. With early voting options, many ballots will be already cast before that day, as absentee in-person, early vote, electronic transmission and special needs voting begins on Aug. 5.
The promoters of the open, nonpartisan primary say that the system allows voters greater choice. But it does so by robbing other voters, those belonging to political parties, of the ability to advance their candidates to the ballot. Political parties are cut out of the primary process in Alaska due to the 2020 Ballot Measure 2, which implemented jungle primaries and ranked-choice voting general elections.
Some points to remember:
The primary is not ranked-choice voting. It’s a pick-one primary and the top four vote getters proceed to the general election, where the ranking happens. This means that in almost all races across the state, the same candidates who appear on the primary ballot will appear on the general election ballot. Only three races have more than four candidates. They are:
Congressional Race: 12 candidates. Four are Republicans, two Democrats (one from out of state), the remainder are other parties.
State Senate District L (Eagle River): Five candidates. Four are Republicans, one Democrat.
House District 36 (Interior): Six candidates. Four are Republicans, one Democrat, one Libertarian.
“We often hear that this novel system provides an opportunity for greater voter choice, but the Left has realized that in reality, they perform better by offering the public only one candidate from their side of the aisle,” explained congressional candidate Nick Begich.
That is true, as seen in the several races where there are multiple Republicans running, and only one Democrat.
Begich has supported the repeal of Ballot Measure 2, and is the only congressional candidate to have signed the petition to repeal it.
He’s the only Republican candidate for Congress who has vowed to drop out after the primary if he is not the leading Republican in the race for the November ranked-choice ballot. Nancy Dahlstrom has not made that commitment.
“Ranked choice voting has worked for the Left specifically because they have realized that by depriving voters of additional choices they improve their odds of winning. In so doing, they consolidate support from the start while members of other parties argue the finer points of policy rather than unifying behind one candidate,” Begich wrote on his Facebook page.
“It’s for these reasons, that I have supported the repeal of Ranked Choice Voting. I was glad to add my signature to the repeal petition and have even donated personally to the effort to return to our traditional voting method. We need a system that represents the will of the people of Alaska, and this system – because it has been so easily manipulated – does not produce such a result.”
The Alaska Democratic Party is, indeed, raising money and fighting to protect ranked-choice voting, which is being challenged by an initiative that will be seen on November’s general election ballot.
However, until the time the voting system is restored, Begich said there is a way to voluntarily institute an actual primary, rather than the jungle primary that exists now:
“To do this, the leading conservative remains in the race after the primary, while the others withdraw from the race. I have made this commitment many times on the record over the past year because I believe this gives Alaskans the best opportunity to replace Mary Peltola and thereby drastically improve our representation in the U.S. House.
“To date, I am the only candidate in my race who has made this commitment, but I am committed to Alaska, and our nation, and will not allow RCV to divide and dilute our vote again,” Begich said.
By only advancing one candidate, the Left does not suffer from the impact of multiple candidates competing in what effectively becomes a “delayed primary” or a splitting of financial resources among multiple campaigns, Begich said.
The best way to get rid of the RCV nonsense? Hold your nose and vote.
Don’t sit the election out via a weird sense of pride/morality.
Learn the systems, use them. Then with the right people in place dump the stupid thing
nancy needs to get out! as lieutenant gov her only responsibility is elections.
how is she so stupid about rank choice voting?
as usual a RINO just like murkowski planted to give democrats the win
Nancy Dahlstrom IS the impediment to get rid of Mary Peltola. Dahlstrom is now the new hate magnet for Conservatives and Republicans. A true B—-
Nick Begich is right and he’s the only one I’ve heard talking about this.
Nancy rides the fence. I just wish she would do her job at the Lt. Gov office.
nick begich learned from his mistake last election. he has my vote in august
Well I do hope Nancy is also willing to do the right thing.
I just have to say that Nick has matured as a candidate and has clearly improved his standing within the state, as evidenced by the support he has received from the many Womens Political groups and his selfless commitment to withdraw if he is not the leading Republican candidate after te first round. I think it is a sign of his intent to take away the confusion inherent to RCV, but also a willingness to give Alaskans a fighting chance to overturn RCV and dig out the decubitus, democrat sore in Congress, which is Peltola.
If it weren’t for Nick, there would be no Peltola. There would be a Palin. I can’t forget that. I won’t forget that.
Go Nick!
The republican party of Alaska doesn’t seem to understand the situation. Democrats have figured out how to win, while the Republicans can’t seem to get behind one candidate. So we the people of Alaska end up with a Mary Peltola representing the democrat party and shitting on Alaska and the people.