Republicans got 111K votes versus 75K for the Democrat. And yet it's the Democrat who got elected. What a scam!
Ranked choice allowed Nick Begich to run as a well funded "spoiler" against Sarah Palin, and to divide the Republican vote. A dirty trick if I've ever seen one, and it was enabled by ranked choice.
No.
Many of Ron Begich’s voters would not have voted for Palin and a significant number of his voters would have voted for Pelota. The results would have been the same.
As for him being a spoiler, how? 17k of his voters CHOSE Pelota as their second choice. 11K didn’t care who was second.
There was something wrong with the Palin candidacy.