A left-wing-funded group seeking to defeat an Alaskan ballot initiative that repeals the state’s ranked-choice voting (RCV) system is outspending the measure’s supporters by a hundredfold, according to a new analysis.
On Thursday, Alaska Beacon, an affiliate of the left-wing States Newsroom, reported on newly available financial disclosures from the Alaska Public Offices Commission. The records purportedly show the “No on 2” campaign — which is aiming to prevent the measure’s passage this November — has “raised more than $12 million,” while the campaign behind the initiative has only brought in $120,000.
Approved for ballot access by the Alaska Supreme Court in August after a lengthy court battle, Ballot Measure 2 seeks to repeal the state’s RCV system, which voters narrowly adopted during the 2020 election.
Under ranked-choice voting, electors rank candidates of all parties in order of preference. If no candidate receives more than 50 percent of first-choice votes in the first round of voting, the last-place finisher is eliminated, and his votes are reallocated to the voter’s second-choice candidate. This process continues until one candidate receives a majority of votes.
RCV has largely been pushed by Democrats as a way of winning traditionally Republican seats and has regularly produced inaccurate election results and high rates of discarded ballots.
In Alaska, for example, Democrat Mary Peltola won the state’s 2022 special congressional race even though “nearly 60 percent of voters [cast] their ballots for a Republican.” The system is also chiefly responsible for ensuring GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s reelection over a more conservative challenger during the
