How Alaska Changed Everything
Alaska used Ranked Choice Voting and open primaries for the first time in the 2022 election. What happened?
Mary Peltola was elected to Alaska’s Congressional seat through Ranked Choice Voting in 2022. She not only beat 22 other candidates to get the seat (including Sarah Palin and Santa Claus), but she also made history by becoming the first Alaska Native in Congress.
We're bringing Alaska's success to other states. Are you with us?
More Freedom & Power to the People
We’ve Been Persuaded
A former Alaskan legislator and the AFL-CIO President in Alaska were both skeptical of who would benefit from Ranked Choice Voting in Alaska – but, both were quickly persuaded that RCV benefits the voters after the 2020 election. Coalition government is good for Alaska & good for America.
More Choices, Better Representation
Alaskans could vote for an almost endless combination of Ranked Votes in the last election – 16,777,000 to be exact.
An Alaskan Native Perspective
Penny Gage, an Alaska Native nonpartisan voter, discusses how polarization has decreased since the adoption of Ranked Choice Voting in Alaska.
“To see more women and more people of color and more Alaska Native people, not only running but winning is so powerful for the next generation.”
Break Free of the Party Line
Alaskans are known for their independent streak – and Ranked Choice Voting reflects that perfectly. After adopting RCV in 2020, a wider variety of candidates actually had a shot at the ballot box, leading to a breakdown of typical party politics and to a greater consensus choice.
Few people know this better than Andrew Halcro. In 2022, Halcro, a lifelong registered Republican, was able to vote for the candidate he actually wanted, rather than the candidate the party told him to vote for.
Shaking Up The Establishment
The Two-Party Duopoly Doesn’t like Ranked Choice Voting
Even areas as remote as Alaska have been affected by the increase in political partisanship. Jeff Landfield, Alaskan political reporter and former State Senate candidate, voted against rank choice voting during the citizen initiative. But now that he’s seen how the loss of power has impacted the parties, he’s a supporter.
Bipartisan Coalitions & Better Governance
Cathy Giessel, Republican State Senator, and Matt Claman, Democratic State Senator, know how important Ranked Choice Voting is to fighting partisanship – they helped form the only formal bipartisan coalition in a state legislature in the country, including passing a balanced budget that actually had a surplus.
Changing the System and Public Education
Due to the unexpected death of long time Senator Don Young the Alaska Division of Elections had to run their first statewide rank choice voting election just 90 days after they had begun planning instead of the five months they had expected. Despite this high stakes situation they were able to implement a successful education plan. During the 2022 special general election there were fewer than 350 ballots counted as invalid out of over 188,000 votes cast.
Alaska's Candidates React
Santa Claus, Democratic Socialist, &
Chris Bye, Libertarian
Ranked Choice Voting helps bring in a big variety of candidates – even Santa Claus! Two very different candidates, deeply progressive Santa and libertarian Chris, ran in the special election to replace Don Young. They both support Rank Choice Voting – and each other. Despite their political differences, they both ran positive campaigns, showing how RCV brings people together.
Cathy Giessel, Republican State Senator
Cathy Giessel, Republican State Senator, had served her community for a decade. Her bipartisan record caused her to lose the support of the Republican Party. The Republican Party supported a more conservative candidate in the primary and Cathy lost. When Alaska switched to open primaries she ran again and won against the same candidate by 15%.
Denny Wells, Former Democratic Candidate
Denny Wells is a photographer, stay at home dad, and an introvert. Not your typical candidate. Yet, Alaska’s new voting system gave him a shot. Despite losing his race by just 7 votes, he’s now a big believer in the new system.
Jeff Lowenfels, Democratic Candidate for Congress
The Special House Race of 2022 had more candidates than ever due to the adoption of open primaries. Hear from one of the 48 candidates, Jeff Lowenfels, a retired lawyer and the longest running garden columnist in North America, discuss his experience with Ranked Choice Voting.
The rest of the country needs to hear about Alaska’s success
We’re building a movement to bring these reforms to cities and states across the country.
Can you help us amplify Alaska’s story?
