Posted on 06/09/2022 7:23:51 AM PDT by cotton1706
The sweeping election reforms that Alaska voters approved two years ago were intended to reduce the power of major political parties and benefit centrist candidates who don't cater to either ideological extreme.
But Alaska's new system of open, nonpartisan primaries and ranked-choice general elections may produce the opposite result when it goes into effect for the first time Saturday, in a special election to fill the remaining term of the late Representative Don Young, a Republican who died in office in March after holding the state's lone House seat for 49 years.
Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin and a handful of other candidates on the far right and left have emerged as the frontrunners among the four-dozen candidates on the ballot in the primary race.
Alaska is holding a separate primary election the same day, with the top four finishers going on to the general election in November to determine who will serve the full two-year term starting next year.
If Palin makes it to the August general election, the ranked-choice system might still hurt the 2008 Republican vice-presidential nominee, whose popularity in Alaska has plummeted since she resigned as governor more than a decade ago.
But for now at least the nonpartisan primary format appears to have benefited well-known conservatives, such as Palin and Nick Begich III, who have connections to state and national Republicans — instead of more moderate candidates, as supporters of the voting reforms had hoped.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsweek.com ...
It'll be nice to see them backfire on them.
They were enacted to marginalize (eliminate) conservatives in every race.
Alaska’s new electoral system was bought and paid for by big-$$$$ out-of-state liberal activist organizations, for the purpose of making Alaska a less “conservative” state, as Sarah Palin is probably about to find out firsthand.
Alaska also now serves as a guinea pig to test how Rigged Choice Voting works in a supposedly “Republican” state, before Democrats implement it nationwide as they — and numerous RINOs — are desperately trying to do.
Despite being a traditional, normal, common sense Republican, the communist media portrays her as “extremist.” But they never question the insanely extreme evil policies of the globalists and one-worlder ‘centrists.’
Newshit doing what Newshit is always gonna do.
Nice of them to recognize there is Deep Statism on the extreme left, but we must bear in mind any 'centrist' candidate is merely controlled opposition. Palin is no more a right extremist than the founders/framers were right extremists - Jefferson/Madison/Adams/Washington.
Newsweek - the “news” publication that sold for a dollar and was overpriced.
Yep, I was amazed, to learn that any of us could have bought a major news magazine, for one dollar.
Then again, aren’t magazines going out of business, do to the internet?
The whole article was probably just n excuse to show the pic of her leaving federal court after her defamation case against New York Times was dismissed on February 15, 2022 in New York City.
I hope she wins. 👍
Let’s pull apart the key phrases in the first sentence:
1) Sweeping election reforms
2) intended to reduce power of political parties
3) benefit centrist candidates
4) who don’t cater to either ideological extreme
Now look at the second sentence:
5) open, nonpartisan primaries
6) ranked-choice general election
Points 5 and 6 are a direct contradiction to the claims made in points 1 through 4.
This is all a set up to benefit the liberal establishment and screw Sarah Palin.
Palin is likely to be the first victim of this scheme in Alaska; a Republican Congressman (Bruce Poliquin) was already ousted in Maine solely because of it in 2018. Maine is for now the only other state which uses Rigged Choice Voting in federal and some statewide elections.
As of last November when low-info voters in Alaska narrowly approved RCV after a huge liberal propaganda campaign, Palin wasn’t running for anything and most folks probably thought she never would again. Kelly Tshibaka could easily be victim #2 here.
At any rate it’s not so much about defeating any *specific* conservative candidate like Palin or Tshibaka, it’s about marginalizing ALL of them. That’s why RINOs adore this crap every bit as much as Democrats do.
If she runs on Dems creating inflation and other world crises I imagine even the Dems would support her.
I just cast my vote yesterday, and it wasn’t for Sarah. And this was the first time in 50 years of voting that Don Young’s name was not on the ballot.
Who’d you vote for? I live in MA and have NO knowledge of local Alaska candidates so am just curious.
They would not have sold it to you or me. The were only willing to sell it to a fellow traveler.
Maine has RCV, too.
What a coinkydink.
Wouldn’t that be nice?
What’s your objection to Sarah?
“I just cast my vote yesterday, and it wasn’t for Sarah. “
Not criticizing you, but like I predicted on another thread: the Begich voters will show that they despise Palin, and when the general election comes around many of those voters will mark the ultra-liberal Democrat (posing as an “independent”) as their #2 choice just to spite Sarah.
If Begich comes in 3rd out of 4 in November (as opposed to Palin coming in 3rd), Begich’s voters will put the liberal over the top when the provisions of Rigged Choice Voting kick in.
Because they hate Palin more than they hate the ultra-liberal Rat bastard, and they resent her getting into this race because Begich — who is a perfectly good candidate as far as I know — would have won easily otherwise.
This ranked choice BS is designed to do this. A weak, flip-flopping crap-weasel with no morals and no backbone gets to vote on things however the wind and the most political expedient thing to do blows.
Go Sarah.. win!
this rigged choice crap should be banned .
There’s gotta be some way to fight this.
who is begich?
It’s as bad as having open primaries here in SC.
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