Aug. 16 Alaska Primary Includes Special Election, Regular Primary, and Both Choose One & Ranked Choice Voting
Today’s Links
Articles:
Alaska for Better Elections – Alaska Elections Timeline
Alaska for Better Elections – How do I vote in the primary election?
Alaska Public Media – Alaska election guide: Q&As with candidates for U.S. House, U.S. Senate and governor
Anchorage Daily News – Early voting begins in Alaska cities ahead of Aug. 16 election
Alaska Division of Elections – Sample Ballots
Groups Taking Action:
Alaskans for Better Elections, List of Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) groups around the country,
Fair Vote
You’re listening to the American Democracy Minute, keeping YOUR government by and for the people.
Alaska broke new ground in June with the first-ever “top-four” Congressional special primary to replace the late Rep. Don Young. This was the first time Alaskan’s used ranked choice voting, which winnowed down a field of 48 candidates to four, including former governor Sarah Palin, tech millionaire Nick Begich III, and legislator Mary Peltola. A fourth candidate dropped out.
August 16th, voters return to vote on those four candidates, plus vote in their regular primary, including a U.S. Senate race with incumbent Lisa Murkowski and 18 challengers, another U.S. House race with 22 candidates, and a governor’s race with 10 candidates. The regular primary is using conventional “choose one” voting.
Only the special election for U.S. House will be conducted using ranked choice voting, with voters ranking the candidates in order of preference. In the special U.S. House race, if the top ranked candidate doesn’t receive 50% of the vote, the 3rd place candidate’s votes will be reassigned, weighting them according to the voters’ rankings.
The August 16th U.S. Senate and regular U.S. House races will also be “top four” races, with the top four candidates advancing to the General Election on November 8th. There are also 59 of 60 state house and senate races at stake.
Alaska’s voters have embraced voting by mail, so ballots have almost two weeks to arrive and be counted after election day. Results will not be known until September.
More information on the August 16 election and Alaska’s ranked choice voting system are at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org
For the American Democracy Minute, I’m Brian Beihl