WSJ: Ranked Choice May Die in Alaska Proponents of the system wage a lawfare campaign against a repeal initiative.

Ranked Choice May Die in Alaska

Proponents of the system wage a lawfare campaign against a repeal initiative.

Ranked choice being frozen out?  She reports:

“How is the electoral experiment known as ranked-choice voting faring in the real world? Ask Alaskans, who are rushing to kill it—even as outsider supporters pull out the stops to keep the mess in place.

Lower-48 millionaire dilettantes in 2020 targeted the state’s small media market and voting population to impose a statewide ranked-choice voting system. Alaskans were presented with a mind-boggling 25-page initiative that broadly promised “better elections.” Few knew what they were voting for (what the outsiders intended), and it barely passed.  

In March 2022 Rep. Don Young died, setting up the first jungle primary under the new system. The mob of 48 candidates denied Alaskans any chance at knowing the field or hearing substantive debate. The unwieldy ballot became a state joke, with citizens grimly noting that they might as well choose candidates by throwing a dart.

The top four finishers advanced to the general election, in which voters were asked to rank them in order of preference. The complex process was made more insane when one of the four finalists suspended her campaign, prompting litigation over whether the fifth-place finisher could replace her. (He could.) The campaigning featured shifting alliances, back-room deals, and misleading explanations. The system for reporting results was slow and opaque, leaving Alaskans deeply suspicious. The process also disenfranchised the many voters who chose to vote for just one candidate, meaning their ballot was “exhausted” if their choice was eliminated in the first round. Two Republicans split the vote, and Democrat Mary Peltola won in a state that Donald Trump carried two years earlier by 10 points.

Furious at being made guinea pigs, Alaskan conservatives are fighting back. Last week’s House primary featured Ms. Peltola and 11 other candidates, nine of whom received fewer than 3,000 votes combined. Two prominent Republicans fought to advance. Nick Begich (who ran in 2022) promised to withdraw if he finished third, while Lt. Gov Nancy Dahlstrom vowed to stay in no matter what.

When Ms. Dahlstrom placed third, threatening another GOP split, conservative voters lost their minds. Her Facebookpage exploded with demands: “DROP OUT.” “You are being selfish.” “Read the room.” State GOP leaders called for her withdrawal; conservatives started a petition; national Republicans took aim. Her political future in peril, Ms. Dahlstrom quit.

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Bottom line: The general election will feature Ms. Peltola vs. Mr. Begich and two no-names with no support. With classic can-do spirit, Alaskans engineered their own head-to-head contest.

But the interlopers aren’t done. The 2020 initiative campaign was funded by left-leaning groups and wealthy liberals in the lower 48 that provided millions to an outfit called Alaskans for Better Elections. Its lawyer, Scott Kendall, is waging an ugly lawfare campaign against Alaskans working to right their system. When more than 37,000 signed a petition to get repeal on this year’s ballot, he filed an ethics complaint against the signature gatherers and sued to have the petition thrown out on technicalities. The state Supreme Court a week ago kicked his suit to the curb.  

Now ranked-choice backers are blanketing TV and radio airwaves with new ads hilariously claiming that “smart conservatives” will vote to keep the system because it helps elect conservatives. The ads are sponsored by a mysterious group called Conservative Majority Fund, which looks to be spending a bundle. We don’t know, because it appears not to be registered with Alaska’s Public Offices Commission, the state’s disclosure regulator.  

Suzanne Downing of Must Read Alaska obtained the ad disclosures on public file at radio stations. Among the officers of the group listed was Bryan Schroder, a former U.S. attorney who until recently worked at the same small Anchorage law firm as Mr. Kendall. Mr. Kendall also once worked for Sen. Lisa Murkowski, whose supporters helped usher in ranked choice and used it to get her re-elected in 2022. Ah, “cleaner” and “better” elections. (Mr. Schroder didn’t return a call seeking comment.)

Glitches and complexity are one thing, but what Alaskans most detest about ranked choice is that it’s the political equivalent of the participation trophy. Instead of a majority voting for the “best” candidate—someone with history, ideas, principles—it’s a system designed to elect the person who is least offensive to the most people. Even its proponents acknowledge that they aim to elect “consensus” candidates. Yet we don’t seek the lowest common denominator in CEOs, doctors, airline pilots or schoolteachers. We certainly shouldn’t reward it in public life.

No doubt some proponents believe ranked-choice voting is an answer to today’s partisanship, though many want to use it to game the system for partisan ends. Polarization is a legitimate problem. But ranked-choice voting is a bad idea that won’t solve the underlying causes of gridlock, such as gerrymandering or a lack of term limits. Let’s hope Alaska again becomes free of it.”

Sometimes admitting a bad idea is…a bad idea, is a good idea.