The Alaska Plant
How Ranked-Choice Voting Gets Gamed Two Dan Sullivans sit on Alaska’s general-election ballot for the United States Senate. One is the incumbent Republican senator who has held the seat for twelve years. The other is a retired teacher from Petersburg. He had never registered as a Republican. He had given money to Democrat candidates. His campaign materials and spending pattern track a Democrat effort to shape the field. Alaska’s top-four primary and ranked-choice voting system produced that result. Voters are now deciding whether to keep the system that made the outcome possible. How the Ballot Works Alaska runs a nonpartisan top-four…