By WIN GRUENING
Every few years, moderate and conservative voters seem to find themselves in the position of voting against propositions generated by left of center entities. We haven’t yet reached the insanity of the California ballot which features dozens of initiatives and propositions, but the few that do make the Alaska ballot are usually suspect.
Our November 5 general election will be an exception.
For Alaskans who prefer limited government, less regulation, fiscal responsibility, and traditional and transparent elections, you can advance those political values by voting Yes on Ballot Measure 2. Furthermore, you will be striking a blow against one of the biggest “dark money” campaigns in Alaska history.
Ballot Measure 2 is entitled “An Act Restoring Political Party Primaries and Single-Choice General Elections.” It would repeal “jungle primaries” and restore traditional primary and general elections where the highest vote-getter wins.
Passage of this measure will restore Alaska’s electoral system to what it was prior to 2022 and what had been in place for over 20 years. It would repeal all the electoral provisions incorporating “top 4” primary rules and “ranked-choice voting” (RCV) in the general election.
Amid the avalanche of deceptive outside dark money ads blasting the airwaves and social media, you might be tempted to believe that democracy will end if we change our method of voting back to what served us and most Americans well for hundreds of years.
Don’t be fooled.
RCV proponents claim the system improves voter confidence by providing more candidate choices, decreasing negative campaigning, and ensuring majority rule. Yet, experience in Alaska has not borne this out. Many elections remain uncontested or with only one challenger, negative campaigning has not been reduced, and because of “exhausted ballots,” there is no guarantee that candidates will win by a majority of votes.
Furthermore, RCV is more expensive, generates confusion, and the lack of transparency caused by complicated counting and delaying final results for weeks has contributed to further diminishment of trust in our electoral system.
Despite RCV promoters’ claims that RCV electoral systems are sweeping the nation, it is a mixed bag at best. As of October 2024, only three states, Alaska, Maine, and Hawaii (for special Federal elections only), had implemented similar systems. Ten states have statutorily prohibited RCV. While voters in four states—Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, and Oregon—are considering in 2024 whether to enact RCV, voters in Alaska will decide whether to repeal it and voters in Missouri will decide whether to prohibit it.
RCV boosters cannot afford to allow Alaska to succeed in deciding for themselves how they would prefer to run their elections as it would undermine their mantra that RCV has been wildly successful. Accordingly, opponents under the name “Vote No on 2” have collected over $12 million to defeat Ballot Measure 2.
The primary donors to that campaign are left wing Democrat political organizations from out of state that have virtually unlimited funding. Just three organizations, Article IV, Unite America PAC, and Action Now Initiative, have collectively contributed $10.5 million. Their contributions are funding a TV, radio, and social media campaign blitz that will run non-stop through election day.
And they are playing fast and loose with the facts.
One ad, featuring a veteran, states: “Many veterans like me choose not to register with a political party and that’s why I’m voting no on Measure 2. Measure 2 would force thousands of veterans and active-duty military to join a political party just to participate in Alaska’s primary elections.”
This is not true. In fact, reverting back to our traditional system of primaries would allow independents, non-partisans, and undeclared voters to vote for any primary candidate they prefer – regardless of political party.
Another ad states: “Alaska finally has an election system that isn’t controlled by political parties or special interests.” Given the amount of money funneled through left wing Democrat organizations to influence this campaign and the original campaign where RCV passed by the thinnest of margins, that statement doesn’t pass the red-face test.
Alaskans have an opportunity this time around to set the record straight by voting YES on Ballot Measure 2.
After retiring as the senior vice president in charge of business banking for Key Bank in Alaska, Win Gruening became a regular opinion page columnist for the Juneau Empire. He was born and raised in Juneau and graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1970. He is involved in various local and statewide organizations.
There you have it: RCV is too complicated for Win–1, 2, 3, A, B, C!
Voted yes on 2 yesterday, let’s get it done Alaska!
Thank you Win,
RCV needs to be defeated soundly. Mail-in voting is another boondoggle that needs to end. We need to go back to voting in person, and no electronic voting/counting machines. Mail in ballots can be requested by those who need or choose to vote that way, not be a mandatory way of voting.
“RCV proponents claim the system improves voter confidence by providing more candidate choices…”
Tell you what. If you want to increase voter confidence by providing more candidate choices, let us vote for four candidates in the jungle primary, not just one.
“…decreasing negative campaigning,…”
Has not happened. The left (907 Initiative, Vote Alaska B4 Party, etc…) are flooding the media with negative ads.
“…and ensuring majority rule. ”
Majority rule is actually mob rule. Not good.
I have done a little research into the history of the jungle primary in 2022 and 2024 and the general election in 2022. The primary in both cases reduced the number of candidates in the US House, US Senate, and Governor’s races, but had almost no candidates removed from the AK House or Senate races because only one had five or more candidates. It seems to be a waste of time money and should be eliminated, if we are to continue with RCV. The current Presidential ballot has more than four candidates, so why not also do that on the US House, US Senate, and Governor’s races.
Here are some facts about Ranked Choice Voting’s short history in Alaska. Two of the three statewide races (US Senate and House) in 2022 required RCV tabulation (due to no candidate getting 50% of the first rank votes), but the leader of both races after the first round was the eventual winner. The Governor’s race was decided after the first round. Thus, RCV had no affect on the outcome of these races.
In the 19 State Senate races, only three required the RCV process and all three were won by the leader after the first round. In the 40 State House races, only seven required a RCV tabulation. In five of the seven, the leader after the first round was the eventual winner. In the other two, a Democrat was running against two Republicans and lead after the first round but was second after the second round. Note that, had the traditional primary been held, there would have only been one Republican candidate and it would have been done after the first round.
So, my conclusion is that RCV did not lead to a different result in any race in 2022 than the traditional primary/general election would have. I am tempted to see what Maine’s record has been, since they have been doing this nonsense for a little longer. But my gut says it won’t be much different.
Vote Yes on 2! And, if you know someone in a state considering this system, tell them to vote NO!
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