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Alaska court upholds new top-four primary and ranked-choice general election
Attorneymotionnews.com ^ | 8/9/21

Posted on 08/09/2021 3:54:01 AM PDT by cotton1706

The top four vote-getters regardless of party will advance to the general election, where voters will be able to rank their choices using instant-runoff voting. The law will also institute ranked-choice voting in presidential elections, though traditional party primaries will remain in effect for those races. The law further sets up new financial disclosure requirements for state-level candidates.

The implementation of the new top-four ranked-choice voting system may play a key role in next year’s Senate election, where Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski is facing a tough challenge from the right by former state cabinet official Kelly Tshibaka after she voted to convict Donald Trump in his second impeachment trial earlier this year. Tshibaka has been endorsed by the state GOP and Trump himself, but rather than face the constraint of needing to win a Republican primary dominated by Trump diehards to advance to the general election, Murkowski is all but assured of making it to the general election ballot under the top-four system.

However, the new voting system is hardly a guarantee that Murkowski will win another term in this conservative state. If Democratic voters consolidate around a Democratic candidate whom they rank ahead of Murkowski, the incumbent could end up getting squeezed out of the ranked-choice process in the general election; if she is many voters’ second choice but few voters’ first choice, she could be eliminated before a Democrat and Tshibaka. Thus, Murkowski will likely need some measure of initial support from Democratic and independent voters in addition to more moderate Republicans if she’s to make it to the final round of the ranked-choice voting process.

(Excerpt) Read more at attorneymotionnews.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Politics/Elections; US: Alaska
KEYWORDS: antirepublic; elections; instantrunoff; rankedchoicevoting
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1 posted on 08/09/2021 3:54:01 AM PDT by cotton1706
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To: cotton1706

Alaska is becoming the new California.


2 posted on 08/09/2021 3:55:46 AM PDT by fwdude (True shepherds carry a sling and plenty of stones.)
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To: cotton1706

As an incumbent, Murkowski has an app. 97% chance of being re-elected. That’s the science of probability that is lost on many.


3 posted on 08/09/2021 3:58:04 AM PDT by JonPreston (Q: Never have so many, been so wrong, so often)
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To: cotton1706
Ranked choice voting = the Rat Party's wettest dream (along,of course,with mail in balloting).
4 posted on 08/09/2021 4:00:54 AM PDT by Gay State Conservative (Covid Is All About Mail In Balloting)
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To: fwdude

Alaska is becoming the new California.

Yeah they took over Anchorage and Juneau


5 posted on 08/09/2021 4:02:15 AM PDT by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now its your turn)
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To: cotton1706

ranked-choice voting system,

eennie, meenie, mynee, moe you get stuck with a shmoe, their shmoe

one more way to steal an election


6 posted on 08/09/2021 4:04:21 AM PDT by ronnie raygun (“When the people fear the government you have tyranny, when the government fears the people you have)
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To: cotton1706

Ah yes, RCV - where the person that you absolutely did not want to elect, can be elected. That’s because you marked that candidate as a second or third or fourth choice and so did a lot of other voters. Remember the candidate with the most votes wins no matter the position they were voted for on your ballot.

The only way to defeat RCV is to vote only for one candidate - leave the others blank. I don’t believe that voters are required by law to fill in other choices. Besides, what can they do? put you in jail for voting?


7 posted on 08/09/2021 4:09:36 AM PDT by ByteMercenary (Slo-Joe and KamelHo are not my leaders.)
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To: cotton1706

Insanity


8 posted on 08/09/2021 4:15:46 AM PDT by Nifster (I see puppy dogs in the clouds)
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To: ByteMercenary

Well with massive absent voter ballots if you leave other choices blank, guaranteed someone will fill them in for you.


9 posted on 08/09/2021 4:41:50 AM PDT by Engedi
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To: fwdude

rename the state to North Seattle


10 posted on 08/09/2021 4:49:08 AM PDT by ptsal (Vote R.E.D. >>>Remove Every Democrat ***)
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To: ronnie raygun

There’s a reason why Murkowski and Collins keep their seats.

RCV.

And, what a coinkydink, Deep State is doing its best to get RCV passed in Wyoming.

Gee, now why would that be...?


11 posted on 08/09/2021 4:49:47 AM PDT by mewzilla (Those aren't masks. They're muzzles. )
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To: Nifster

It’s not insane.

It’s evil.


12 posted on 08/09/2021 4:50:11 AM PDT by mewzilla (Those aren't masks. They're muzzles. )
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To: mewzilla

Note to Alaskans: If you really want to get rid of Murky, you’ll have to do two things:

1) Repeal RCV.

2) Get rid of those RCV-enabled voting machines and go back to dumb voting machines.


13 posted on 08/09/2021 4:54:10 AM PDT by mewzilla (Those aren't masks. They're muzzles. )
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To: mewzilla

Or just don’t vote for Murkowski. She’ll lose without the support of the GOP base.


14 posted on 08/09/2021 4:59:56 AM PDT by lodi90
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To: ByteMercenary

Other than the usual fraud and deception we’re becoming accustomed to, I don’t understand the critical need for RCV. Enough games are being played as it is, this seems to be just another layer to cheat Americans of a lawful vote.


15 posted on 08/09/2021 5:01:45 AM PDT by Made In The USA (Ellen Ate Dynamite Good Bye Ellen)
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To: lodi90

Not with RCV and RC-enabled machines in place.

The only way she loses is if Deep State wants her gone.


16 posted on 08/09/2021 6:07:55 AM PDT by mewzilla (Those aren't masks. They're muzzles. )
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To: fwdude

I recently moved to Alaska thinking it was a red state. It definitely IS culturally, but the politics up here are insanely corrupt.

It wouldn’t surprise me if we end up a “blue” state due to RCV causing everyone’s third/fourth choice to be elected. We’ll see how it goes, I know I’m not going to rank Murkowski or any D on my ballot at all.

Also, the way judges are appointed up here is insane. The governor can’t appoint anyone he wants, he must choose from a set of options given to him by the judicial council. How this works is, when there’s a vacancy on the Alaska Supreme Court a Republican governor gets to choose from 3 leftists.


17 posted on 08/09/2021 6:29:32 AM PDT by shaven_llama
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To: ByteMercenary

According to the Alaska Policy Forum:
“If voters choose to not rank – or mark – all four candidates on the ballot, or simply do so mistakenly (by forgetting to make a mark), their ballot may be “exhausted” or discarded, leading to disenfranchisement.

https://alaskapolicyforum.org/2021/07/ranked-choice-voting-what-now/


18 posted on 08/09/2021 6:36:21 AM PDT by Venkman
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To: Venkman

All that means is, if your candidate is eliminated in a round of counting, and you don’t have another ranked candidate, your vote will go to noone. This is preferable to ranking a candidate you definitely don’t want as your third or fourth choice. I hope people aren’t stupid enough to fall for this and think they must give 4 choices, even if they absolutely hate #4.


19 posted on 08/09/2021 6:40:25 AM PDT by shaven_llama
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To: Venkman

Can the same candidate be listed in all 4 positions?


20 posted on 08/09/2021 6:58:03 AM PDT by Mr. Lucky
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