Ranked-choice voting results for Alaska
SPECIAL TO THE ALASKA MINER The new ranked-choice voting sys- tem worked better than many expect- ed in the special election Aug. 16 to fill out the late Congressman Don Young’s term, although it had a surprising re-
sult. Election officials said most voters showing up at polling stations seemed to understand the new system and had few questions. Credit for that is giv- en the extensive educational efforts by the Division of Election and groups
like the American Association of Re- tired Persons. The new process had voters in the special election rank their picks one through four with second, third and fourth choices reallocated if no one candidate achieved 51 percent in the initial count. As it turned out there were only three choices on the ballot after Al Gross, a Democrat, withdrew. Mary Peltola, Sarah Palin, and Nick Begich were left on the ballot. The surprise was that many of Be- gich’s voters picked Peltola, a Demo- crat, as their second choice. It had been widely expected that many conservative Alaskans supporting Begich, a Repub- lican conservative, would choose Palin, also conservative, as their second choice. Many did — about 50 percent of Begich voters, but many also chose Peltola, about 29 percent of Begich supporters, and that was enough to push Peltola over 50 percent in the fi - nal count. Much of the post-election analysis held the election showed a large ambiv- alence among Alaskans to Palin, who is a former governor and also a 2008 U.S. vice presidential candidate with John McCain, the presidential candidate. Palin has had little presence in the state since then. Peltola is a former state legislator who represented Southwest Alaska communities in the state House for 10 years, but she, too, has been out of public service for many years. Although Peltola is unknown to most Alaskans some analysts believe the campaign rancor between Palin and Begich irritated many voters and sent them looking for a quieter voice. They turned to Peltola. In any event, the three square off again in the November general election for the full two-year congressional term. The Aug. 16 primary had elimi- nated a large number of other contend- ers and one other Alaska Native female candidate, Tara Sweeney, withdrew. When that happened another candi- date, Chris Bye of Fairbanks, a Liber- tarian, would up with enough votes to be in fourth place and will now be on the November ballot. This election is also
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The Alaska Miner
Fall 2022
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