Alaskans will decide fate of ranked choice voting system after chaotic end to state's primary

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JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Even after the last votes were counted from Alaska's primary election, the final slate of candidates was far from settled.

Late withdrawals shook up the races for governor, U.S. Senate and U.S. House, leaving many voters upset with candidates who dropped out after winning a spot in November's general election or cursing others who stayed in.

Some were quick to blame the upheaval on Alaska's unique elections system that combines open primaries, where the top four vote-getters advance, with general elections run under a ranked choice system.

The August primary revealed some of the headaches related to a major change in how Alaska voters select their candidates and was the latest example of how the real-world experience of state voting changes don't always line up neatly with expectations. California Democrats earlier this year worried they might get shut out of the state's top-two primary for governor out of fears they were running too many candidates.

Alaska voters will once again be asked to decide whether to keep or scrap their election method this fall. Maine is the only other state using ranked choice voting for its statewide races.

“We need to make things much more transparent and predictable and understandable by the general public so that we can truly have trust in our democracy again," said Matt Schultz, a Democrat who suspended his U.S. House bid before the primary.

He plans to support keeping the system in place but said it is a complicated decision. He thinks adjustments can be made and sees the role big money plays in elections as a major factor that discourages candidates.

Alaska first used the voter-approved top-four primary and ranked choice general election system four years ago, and two years ago narrowly rejected an effort to repeal it. Supporters have credited the system with having a moderating effect on the Legislature in what has long been a Republican-led state, with both chambers controlled the past two years by bipartisan coalitions.

That was one of the intentions when supporters originally placed ranked choice on the ballot, to introduce a voting system that could reduce partisanship by opening a door to more candidates who would need to work beyond their traditional bases for support.

An unintended consequence is what happened after voting ended in this summer's primary. At least five candidates between the races for the U.S. Senate, U.S. House and governor dropped out after advancing.

Tom Begich was among them. After a one-two finish by Democrats in the governor's primary, some voters were angry when Begich, who finished second, withdrew and endorsed leading vote-getter Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins.

The race is now a matchup with Kreiss-Tomkins and Republicans Bernadette Wilson, Dave Bronson and Treg Taylor. Some Begich supporters said they felt their votes didn't matter and that they were robbed of a chance to rank the candidates in the general election. Others said they trusted Begich's judgment.

Begich’s campaign said staying in the race would have required millions of dollars. It said information the campaign reviewed showed the best path forward was to unite behind one candidate. Begich said he and Kreiss-Tomkins, both former state lawmakers, share many of the same priorities.

He said the decision to withdraw was difficult, and he knows it disappointed some voters. He said the Democratic Party wasn't involved in his final decision.

“Do I feel great about the decision? Of course not. How could I?” he said. “But is it the right decision? Absolutely.”

Many Republicans, including President Donald Trump, have criticized Alaska's ranked voting, which is seen as giving Democrats and moderate candidates a boost in the traditionally GOP-friendly state compared with the traditional party primary system.

In the 2022 and 2024 U.S. House races, pressure to drop out was applied with mixed success on Republican candidates who finished behind the party’s top vote-getter in the top-four primary. In special and regular elections in 2022, Democrat Mary Peltola beat Republicans Sarah Palin and Nick Begich for Alaska's only House seat. In 2024, Nick Begich, a nephew of Tom Begich, beat Peltola after the other major Republican in the race quit following the primary.

Republicans this year remain divided over whether to encourage a “rank the red” strategy in November. The state party chair, Carmela Warfield, frequently refers on social media to ranked voting as a “mess.”

David Boyle, who has long been involved in the state's conservative politics, said ranked voting involves “game theory." While he supports the repeal effort, he thinks Republican voters should rank GOP candidates this fall to give the party its best chance in the governor's race.

“Ranked choice voting shouldn’t be an obstacle,” he said. “It’s a game and we need to play that same game.”

Support of open primaries and ranked voting is part of the Democratic Party platform. Alaska's last Democratic governor left office in 2002, but the party sees an opportunity to win the office this year.

Alaska's most prominent race, for U.S. Senate, features three Republicans and a Democrat in the general election.

The incumbent, Republican Dan S. Sullivan, and Peltola headline the race that also includes Republicans Dan J. Sullivan, a retired teacher, and Gerald Heikes. Heikes advanced when the fourth-place finisher, Democrat David Leslie, withdrew. Peltola and Sen. Sullivan won a combined 91% of the primary vote.

Some Republican voters plan to simply vote for the incumbent and not rank in that race.

“In November, our campaign’s strategy is simple: vote for Senator Dan S. Sullivan and fill out the ballot completely, so no game and no gimmick decides this race instead of Alaskans," Nate Adams, a spokesman for the senator’s campaign, said in a statement. He did not clarify if that meant Sullivan favored voters ranking in his or other races.

The senator and his Republican allies, including Trump, have spent months blasting Dan J. Sullivan as a ”sham" candidate intent on sowing confusion, a charge the challenger denies.

Elijah Verhagen, a Republican from the interior community of Nenana, worries about GOP voters getting mixed messaging about whether they should use the ranked choice system for the midterms.

“I just very much fear that a lot of people will not rank because they’ve distrusted it for so long and they’re going to be voting — most of them — to get rid of it on the same day,” he said. “So it just seems kind of bizarre that we’ve come down to that.”

Advocates of the current system, such as Alaskans for Better Elections, have been holding events to help voters better understand how it works. Juli Lucky, the group's executive director, said consolidating behind one candidate seems “shortsighted” and doesn't honor “the complexity of voters.”

But she also realizes the decision to carry on is the candidate's. And not all voters use the ranking system.

Democrat John Williams withdrew from the U.S. House race after advancing with less than 3% of the vote. He said Democrats urged him to drop out of the race, which features Nick Begich and independent Bill Hill, whom Democrats recently endorsed.

Williams said he wasn't “bullied” and blamed himself for not campaigning or raising money.

He said the current system gives options to voters who “are looking at other people that are down ballot."

“The reason they’re looking," he said, "is because they don’t like what they’re seeing” in the major candidates.