The new Alaska political voting measure used in the 2022 midterm elections has thrown a monkey wrench into the works. The primary date August 16, 2022, has caused much confusion and has drawn criticism, from both Republicans and democrats.
The measure was passed in 2020 as a voter-approved system. It is confusing at first, but change always is. There also has been pushback from some of the political candidates, and people who don’t understand how it works at first glance. Myself included. I went looking to try to understand how what seems a waste of time might be a better system, once you understand it. I will try to explain it as I have come to understand it. It is quite easy once you forget the old process.
First I will show the confusion using the last Alaska primary results. On August 16, 2022, the Alaska primary was held. Eight candidates were vying for the Republican ticket, for the Senate seat including Sen. Lisa Murkowski, and her President Trump-backed challenger Kelly Tshibaka. Two democrats and nine third-party, or independents were also running. In total nineteen candidates, all for the same Senate seat. The top four vote-getters three Republicans, and one democrat no matter party affiliation moved forward, seems stupid to hold a primary, and three challengers from the same party advance. Why have a primary at all? That was my question.
Well, that is the beauty and simplicity. It is trying to stop a minority of voters say 10% from getting a say in who the majority are voting for. You see most voters don’t show up in primary votes so those that do vote for their choice and come November when the rest of the voters show up they only have a choice between Republican or democrat. The Ranked choice allows all primary voters to choose their candidate no matter party affiliation. You get to pick out of all candidates not just those in your party. If you don’t like your choice you can cross over and choose a member of the other party, you have a larger choice.
Most people are somewhat Independent, and this addresses that. It also allows third-party candidates who sometimes don’t have the vast resource that say either a Republican or democrat would have. So the top four people for any given seat advance to the next round. Put simply it isn’t an A or B choice. it is an everybody choice.
The reason many of us have a negative view of this is quite simple RINO Sen. Lisa Murkowski advanced. Under the old rules, she most likely would have lost.
That brings us to the other side of the coin. In the same state primary, Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is running for Congress. The seat was left open when Rep. Don Young passed away earlier this year. Palin finished 2nd, with 32% of the vote, behind democrat Mary Peltola who had 38% of the vote, but ahead of Republican Nick Begich who received 29%. Come November Palin could win, but she still would have advanced under the old system.
Put another way if you went to the horse races you wouldn’t want someone else a month before to decide on who you were allowed to bet on, to limit your choice to only male or female horses, or only solid color horses vs mixed color horses. You would want to look at all the horses and choose the one you either thought had the best chance to win or the one you favored the most. That’s what Ranked Choice System does, it gives everyone in the race the top four places a choice to pick the winner, and let’s be honest picking a candidate to elect to represent you is like making a bet, but usually without the fun of watching the race.
As always I welcome your comments, constructive criticism, or your insight.
