Voters in Alaska appear to have preserved the state’s unique ranked choice voting system by the narrowest of margins as elections officials tabulated a final batch of ballots.
Opponents of ranked choice voting had qualified Ballot Measure 2, which asked voters to repeal the system first adopted in 2020. That ballot measure trailed by just 664 votes, a margin of about 0.2 percentage points.
Alaska voters who cast ballots on Election Day favored repealing the system by a small margin. But early and absentee votes broke more heavily against the repeal, and the measure’s lead shrank consistently over the ensuing weeks. By Monday, the measure was failing by a slim margin.
The results mirror the initial move to adopt ranked choice voting. Election Day voters opposed the ballot measure that implemented the system by a wide margin, but absentee ballots put it over the top weeks later.
That measure created an open primary system in which the top four candidates advanced to a general election. In those general elections, voters are allowed to rank candidates; the lowest-performing candidates are eliminated, and second-choice votes are reallocated until one candidate reaches a majority.
Conservatives began agitating to repeal the measure after the 2022 elections, in which Mary Peltola (D) defeated former Gov. Sarah Palin (R) in a ranked choice runoff.
This year, Peltola lost her bid for a second term to businessman Nick Begich III (R), who finished third in the ranked choice system two years ago. The Associated Press called the race Wednesday with Begich ahead 51%-49%.
Supporters of ranked choice voting poured more than $14 million into the campaign to save it, led by dark money groups based in other parts of the country. Unite America PAC, a group headed in part by philanthropist Kathryn Murdoch, spent $5.5 million against Measure 2. Article Four, another group that spent heavily on pro-ranked-choice voting measures around the country, added $4 million.
“Alaskans of all political stripes — Democrats, Republicans and independents — recommitted to their innovating top-four election system, which is delivering better choices on the ballot and leaders that represent a true majority of votrs,” Nick Toriano, executive director of United America, said in a statement.
In-state supporters of ranked choice voting included the Alaska Federation of Natives and Senate Majority Leader Cathy Giessel, a Republican who heads a multi-party majority coalition in Juneau.
Phil Izon, the conservative activist who led the repeal initiative, told the Anchorage Daily News he would begin gathering signatures to qualify another attempt for the 2026 ballot. In earlier comments, Izon said Alaska voters had been confused by the new system.
“We stand for the Alaskans who felt misled, for those who found the [ranked choice voting] ballot confusing, and for everyone who believes in the sanctity of the straightforward voting process,” Izon said when he submitted signatures to qualify the measure earlier this year.