“Because of Alaska’s new system, Murkowski will no doubt still be on the ballot in November.”
Maybe not ... because there will be more than two candidates for Murk’s seat, the system can be used to eliminate her from the final election day. Here is how.
Voters need to be educated on how to fill out their ballots. Since their are four candidates, voters need to select their first preference and then two more making sure that Murk’s name is not any of the three choices. The candidate with the lowest vote tally is dropped and the votes for the dropped candidate are apportioned to the remaining candidates provided they were alternate choices. If enough voters skip voting for Murk, she won’t make it to the Nov contest.
Your method is correct for November. But the August 16th primary is not ranked choice, but is to narrow the field to the four ranked choice candidates. See below.
In Alaska’s U.S. Senate primary Aug. 16, voters will each choose one candidate among more than one dozen. The top four vote-getters, no matter their party, will advance to the November election. Tshibaka and Murkowski are both expected to advance.
For the general election, voters will rank the candidates by their first, second, third and fourth choice. The lowest-finishing candidates are eliminated, with their voters’ second, third and fourth choices reallocated to those candidates’ totals. The candidate who wins 50% plus 1 vote, wins the election, going as many rounds as it takes.