This image was used in an Alaska Division of Elections video explaining ranked choice voting. (Screenshot of Alaska Division of Elections video)
Alaska was the second state to adopt ranked choice voting in federal and statewide elections, but it may be the first to abandon it.
A citizen’s initiative ballot measure that would repeal the state’s open primary and ranked choice voting system made it to the November ballot after legal challenges. As a result, Alaskans will be asked in Ballot Measure 2 to decide if they would like to repeal or keep the state’s open primary and top-four ranked choice voting system.
If the repeal is successful, Alaska will revert to primaries that are controlled by the political parties and general elections where voters pick only one candidate.
The repeal effort centers its argument around the ranked choice aspect of the state’s voting system, while proponents of the system have dug in to fight for the open primary aspect.
The 2020 ballot measure to institute ranked choice voting succeeded with 51% of the vote. But efforts to roll it back ramped up after the system’s debut in the 2022 election.