There’s the special and there’s the primary.
The first round of the special was conducted a while ago. Four advanced, but one dropped out leaving three. Yesterday’s vote was the second round of the special. The D finished first, and Rs finished second (Palin) and third (Begich). But, the D didn’t get a majority of the vote. So, the #3 candidate will be eliminated, and the second preferences of that candidate’s voters will be examined (You don’t HAVE to name an alternate choice, and many voters don’t). Probably, the second preferences of the #3 candidate will catapult the #2 candidate to first place, because both the #3 and the #2 candidates are Republicans. This is the classic case where the Republican vote is split among multiple candidates, which would allow the Democrat to steal the election if the election is only based on who finishes first.
The Irish and the Australians have a lot of experience with this kind of system, sometimes called “preference voting,” sometimes “instant run-off.” The main problem in Ireland and Australia is the multiplicity of candidates. Sometimes dozens. Making for tedious voting and counting. The Alaska twist is to have first round to identity the top four, and then a run-off among the top 4, to kind of simplify instant run-off voting.
I’ll close by saying no system of voting is perfect. And, it takes some time for people to get used to any change in the system of voting.
Thanks. I still don’t like it. Understand that Lisa M. pushed it for her vile purposes.