Alaskans vote in support of ranked-choice voting for third time

By Brentin Mock

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ANCHORAGE, ALASKA - OCTOBER 31: Stickers are displayed at a polling station at Midtown Mall on October 31, 2026 in Anchorage, Alaska. Alaska is preparing for the upcoming midterm elections as candidates ramp up campaigning and voters prepare to head to the polls in a closely watched U.S. Senate race between Democrat Mary Peltola and incumbent Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK) that could have implications for control of Congress. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Alaska voters rejected an attempt to repeal the state’s ranked-choice voting (RCV) and open primary elections systems, which the Trump administration has falsely claimed were set up to confuse voters.

As of Sunday, 46.5% of voters had supported the repeal measure, while 53.5% had opposed it.

It was the second time that a ballot measure to revoke RCV in Alaska was rejected since voters first approved an initiative to adopt the system in 2020.

President Donald Trump and Attorney General Todd Blanche have both claimed Alaska’s RCV system enabled what they allege was a Democratic scheme to confuse voters in Alaska’s Senate race by helping to put a candidate on the ballot with a similar name to the incumbent, Sen. Dan Sullivan (R). (A federal court rejected a Department of Justice lawsuit over the similar names issue.)

“Because of rank-based voting, voters write not just one, not just two, but multiple names on the ballot,” Blanche claimed in an interview with CNN last month. “And so there are a number of scenarios where it could be obvious that a voter was confused by the way they wrote down candidates.” 

There’s no evidence of voter confusion in Alaska’s Senate race, which Democrat Mary Peltola is on course to win. But if any did exist, RCV in fact offers a way to address it, by allowing voters to rank both Sullivans.

“The message from voters is clear: It’s here to stay,”  Meredith Sumpter, president and CEO of FairVote, said. “That’s because ranked choice voting and open primaries are delivering for Alaska. Voters get more choice, elections are more competitive, and candidates need majority support to win elections.”

Under Alaska’s RCV system, voters rank each candidate in order of preference. If no candidate wins more than 50% of first-choice votes, the lowest ranked candidates are eliminated with their votes redistributed to voters’ next preferred choices. This continues until a candidate reaches 50%.

RCV supporters argue that the system encourages cross-partisan competition and reduces the chances of a third-party candidate spoiling the results for major party candidates.

The state’s open primary system allows candidates of all parties to run in a single primary, with the top four finishers, regardless of party, advancing to the general election.