Alaskans will decide fate of ranked choice voting system after chaotic end to state’s primary
Alaska’s primary election has ended in confusion. At least five candidates dropped out after advancing from the August contest, and their withdrawals are reshaping the governor’s race, the U.S. Senate contest and the lone U.S. House seat. A repeal effort is now on the ballot, and the people of Alaska will vote on the system that created this mess.
The primary used a voter-approved system that combines a top-four primary with ranked choice voting in the general election. Candidates and voters alike are unsettled, with some feeling their votes did not matter and others trusting the judgement of those who walked away.
Withdrawals and Their Reasons
Tom Begich, who finished second in the governor’s primary, withdrew and endorsed Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins, the candidate who led the primary vote. Begich’s campaign said staying in the race would have required millions of dollars, and that information reviewed showed the best path was to unite behind one candidate.
Some Begich supporters felt their votes didn’t matter and were robbed of a chance to rank candidates in the general election. Others trusted Begich’s judgment.
Matt Schultz, a Democrat who suspended his U.S. House bid before the primary, plans to support keeping the ranked choice system but says it is a complicated decision.
Support of open primaries and ranked voting is part of the Democratic Party platform. The system first went into effect four years ago.
The Repeal Effort
Alaska’s last Democratic governor left office in 2002. The state narrowly rejected an effort to repeal the ranked choice system two years ago.
Maine is the only other state using ranked choice voting for its statewide races.
In 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.
Democrat Mary Peltola beat Republicans Sarah Palin and Nick Begich for Alaska’s only House seat in 2022. Nick Begich, nephew of Tom Begich, beat Peltola in 2024 after the other major Republican in the race quit following the primary.
President Donald Trump has criticized Alaska’s ranked voting.
Candidates Left Behind
Begich’s withdrawal means his supporters now face the next election without him on the ballot. Some felt their votes did not count because the system allowed a candidate to drop out after the primary was held.
Begich supporters are also upset that the system they approved can produce such a result, particularly when the candidate who drops out has already been decided by the primary and their voters are left without a candidate to rank in the general election.
Political Debate
The repeal effort is now on the ballot. Alaskans will decide the fate of ranked choice voting when they vote in November.
The vote will settle whether the state keeps a system that has produced both winners and losers in its short history. The system’s defenders argue that it encourages consensus and reduces the power of money in elections. Its critics argue that it leaves voters without a meaningful choice if candidates drop out before the general election is held.
Begich’s campaign said staying in the race would have required millions of dollars, and that information reviewed showed the best path was to unite behind one candidate. That is the core of the argument for withdrawal.
Outside Critics
The President has criticized the system. The state Republican Party chair, Carmela Warfield, frequently refers to ranked voting as a “mess” on social media.
David Boyle, a conservative activist, supports the repeal effort but thinks Republican voters should rank GOP candidates this fall to give the party its best chance in the governor’s race. He describes ranked voting as involving “game theory,” and calls it “a game and we need to play.”
Boyle’s position is a practical one. He wants the system to stay in place temporarily, but with Republicans playing it aggressively to protect their chances in the governor’s race.
What Happens Next
The general election will test whether the system’s defenders can overcome the confusion created by the withdrawals.
The question now is whether Alaskans will punish the system for the confusion or reward it for the principle of ranked choice. The answer will come in November, when voters decide the fate of the ranked choice system.
Where the paper stands
The paper backs ranked choice voting, narrowly, as a system that can resist the moats of big tech dominance in elections, and is against letting a few candidates’ withdrawals reshape the governor’s race, the Senate contest and the lone House seat — a system that created this mess, yes, but one whose repeal would freeze the field for today’s incumbents. The problem is not the system itself; it is the withdrawals that have turned it against its own promise of a fairer election.
The withdrawals show the danger of a system that hands an advantage to those who can afford to drop out and leaves voters without a candidate to rank in the general election. That is a moat, not a safeguard. The paper’s concern about concentrated power in elections runs in the same direction as its concern about concentrated power in industry: both are about who gets to play and who gets frozen out. When the biggest firms ask to be regulated, the paper asks who those rules would lock out; here, the question is who gets locked out of a ballot by a withdrawal they cannot control.
The paper wants voters to have a clear ballot, not a ballot shaped by withdrawals. It wants to avoid freezing today’s leaders in place and locking out whoever would have challenged them. The vote in November will test whether Alaskans punish the system for the confusion or reward it for the principle of ranked choice.
Key Facts Box
- Two years ago, the state narrowly rejected an effort to repeal the ranked choice system.
- Maine is the only other state using ranked choice voting for its statewide races.
- Democrat Mary Peltola beat Republicans Sarah Palin and Nick Begich for Alaska’s only House seat in 2022.
- Nick Begich, nephew of Tom Begich, beat Peltola in 2024 after the other major Republican quit following the primary.
The system narrowly avoided repeal two years ago. Whether it survives this attempt depends on what Alaskans believe the system delivers: a fairer election or a more chaotic one.
The paper’s plain view is that ranked choice voting is a system that produces winners and losers, and that the winners are not always the ones who deserve to win. The paper is not against voting systems, but it is against systems that produce outcomes that voters cannot understand, and this one has done that.
Source material: “Alaskans will decide fate of ranked choice voting system after chaotic end to state's primary,” PBS.
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