By
Alaska’s first test of ranked-choice voting will come to a close Wednesday as election officials determine the results of a special election for the state’s only House seat.
The results come more than two weeks after Alaska held the special election to replace the late GOP Rep. Don Young, due to the state’s deadline for accepting absentee ballots.
Under the new ranked-choice voting system, which will be used in November, voters ranked the candidates in order of preference. Because no candidate won a majority of the vote, the race headed to instant runoffs where the last-place candidate will be eliminated, and his or her voters are redistributed to the remaining candidates based on the voters’ preferences. The rounds continue until two candidates remain and the candidate with the most votes wins.
That process couldn't start until all ballots were counted, which occurs Wednesday, the last day officials can receive absentee ballots.
Former Democratic state Rep. Mary Peltola is leading the field with 40% of the vote according to results released so far, followed by former GOP Gov. Sarah Palin at 31% and Republican Nick Begich at 28%. The ranked-choice voting tabulation will be live streamed on the state Division of Elections’ Facebook page at 4 p.m. Alaska Time.
Jason Grenn, the executive director of Alaskans for Better Elections, which pushed for the new voting system, said the close results underscore the benefits of the new system.
“The U.S. House race has shown the second choices of many voters is going to be incredibly impactful in races moving forward,” said Grenn, who is a former independent state legislator. “So how do I do that as a candidate? I need to engage more voters, maybe voters I haven’t talked to in the past.”
Grenn pointed to a recent poll the group commissioned that showed Alaska voters were informed and understood the new system.
A majority of registered voters surveyed — 57% — said filling out the ranked-choice ballot was “very simple” and 28% described it as “somewhat simple.” Two-thirds of respondents said they ranked multiple candidates.
The poll, conducted by Patinkin Research Strategies, surveyed 1,200 registered voters from Aug. 18-24 via telephone and text-to-web interviews and had a margin of error of 2.8%.