Posted on 06/11/2022 8:36:00 AM PDT by Right Wing Vegan
Alaska’s new voting system and an unexpected special election have attracted a crowd of 48 candidates to run for the state’s lone House seat this year, including former vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin and a Democratic socialist from the city of North Pole who legally changed his name to Santa Claus.
The contest Saturday is the state’s first foray into nonpartisan primaries and ranked-choice voting after a narrowly passed 2020 ballot measure upended the typical party primary system.
The new system had been expected to launch later in the state’s scheduled August primary, but longtime Rep. Don Young’s death in March forced a special election to fill his seat more quickly. Now, onlookers and candidates wonder how voters will engage with the new system: Will they stick with party-endorsed candidates, or will they give a more nontraditional candidate, like Claus, a chance at a seat in Congress?
"The question, of course, will be do Alaska citizens fully grasp the power right now that they have to look at these candidates as individuals and not as party folks. Or will we cleave more closely to parties?" said Amy Lauren Lovecraft, a professor of political science at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. "That is the open question."
Here’s how the new voting system works: Alaskans cast ballots for single candidates in an open, nonpartisan primary race. The top four vote-getters advance to the general election, in which voters rank four candidates in order of preference. Any candidate who gets more than 50 percent of the vote wins the race. If no one gets a majority, the candidate with the fewest first-choice votes is eliminated, and ballots cast for the eliminated candidate are recast for voters’ second choices. The elimination and retabulation process continues until only two candidates are left.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Santa can see Russia from his sleigh
This is not a real election and should not be legal.
I pray she wins the primary and the general.
Liberals just see her walking their way and get triggered.
Sounds good at first but no doubt increases fraud susceptibility.
An idiotic change to how elections should be run.
Alaska and Maine have RCV as well as RCV-enabled voting machines for a reason.
Just ask Collins and Murkowski.
The state implemented the law, therefore it is legal. States determine how votes are done, like it or not.
> Sounds good at first but no doubt increases fraud susceptibility. <
That was my first thought as well. The more complicated something is, the easier it is to sabotage.
Set up for the left.
After the Republicans take over control of the House this fall, they should elect Sarah as the new speaker just to watch liberal heads explode.
They know that this time they have to steal 50,001`. If she is elected....;.
All the Indians are voting for the Indian lady; a repub who worked for Donny Young.
Most older folks for Sarah Palin; they remember all the good things she accomplished years back.
Begich is probably OK, but he'll never take a stand like on Lisa, ect. The Repub party is supporting Begich.
I doubt any Dem gets it, but we could have Repub who turns into a dem once in.
We have over 100,000 Indians up here and in every village one person fills out all the ballots gets them signed and submitted. Under 25% turnout on 11, June.
Imagine if it occured and her receiving enough votes was televised?
Wow.
RCV favors the established political forces and hurts the more conservative and the more leftist candidates.
It’s a tool for the banking and business backed “moderates” of both the Fakegressive Democrats and Fakeservative Republicans to retain power.
Political parties should handle their own internal process to select A candidate for THAT party. Let'em have caucuses, conventions, on-line voting or whatever they want. States should not be involved in intra-party affairs. The state should fund two and only two elections...a primary in which ONE candidate per registered party runs, and a general election with the top two vote-getters.
I had a EDUCATED teacher friend who SWORE that Sarah said she could see Russia from her house!! I had to SHOW her, and she still didn’t want to believe it was Tina Fey!
Some people know what should means, some do not.
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