Alaska Officials Found Even More Voters Want to Keep State's Nonpartisan Elections System

Welcome to Alaska sign with mountains in the background.
Photo by Richard Martin on Flickr
Created: 01 Dec, 2024
2 min read

 

Photo by Richard Martin on Flickr

 

The Alaska election results have officially been certified and despite calls from Measure 2 supporters for a recount of the ballot initiative's loss by 664 votes, the Alaska Division of Elections re-checked its work before certification and had some bad news for them. 

The results show Measure 2 still failed and by an even greater margin. 

In my previous coverage I wrote that the nonpartisan better elections group FairVote looked at thousands of statewide elections from 2000 to 2023 and found that only "36 races had a complete statewide recount" -- 3 of which resulted in a change in outcome.

"In fact, FairVote found that the odds are much greater that a recount will result in a widened margin of victory for the winning side," I added.

And lo and behold, this is exactly what happened -- though what the elections division did was not technically a recount. It was a review of the initial count ahead of certification.  They did this for all elections.

The official count found that the margin between "No" on Measure 2 and "Yes" wasn't 664 votes -- it was 737. 

More Choice for San Diego

Measure 2 would have repealed Alaska's nonpartisan top four primary system and its use of ranked choice voting in the general election, even though the election model had only been used once when the Measure 2 campaign was announced.

The difference between "No" and "Yes" in the election shows that -- at least for the voters who participated in 2020 when reform was initially approved and 2024 -- the needle hasn't moved much on support for or opposition to reform. 

Advocates of repeal point to millions of dollars poured into the state to help defeat Measure 2, but they also almost benefited from a drop in turnout compared to 4 years ago. 

Read more about Measure 2 and the outcome of the election here

Related articles

Image of voters at a polling location.
Bill Filed to Close Indiana's Critical Primary Elections
Photo by  Indiana lawmakers will consider a bill filed in the state's House of Representatives that ...
07 Jan, 2025
-
2 min read
Reformers at NANR's 8th annual summit in San Diego, California.
Down, But Not Out: Nonpartisan Election Reformers Maintain Their Resolve
Nonpartisan election reformers have chosen not to hang their head in defeat after a few statewide lo...
16 Dec, 2024
-
4 min read
silhouette of a hand putting a ballot in a box.
As Expected, Alaska Measure 2 Recount Didn't Change Anything
The recount in Alaska over Ballot Measure 2 is complete. The state's Republican Party requested it a...
10 Dec, 2024
-
1 min read

Latest articles

Idaho Capitol Building
Idaho Lawmakers Are Going After the Ballot Initiative Process
Idaho lawmakers are still fuming that citizen-led groups dared try to change the way the state elects its lawmakers. The 2024 initiative failed, but now a bill in the legislature would make it harder for any ballot proposition to pass....
09 Jan, 2025
-
2 min read
Andrew Yang
Andrew Yang Makes a Bold Prediction about The Next Presidential Race
Former presidential candidate and Forward Party Founder Andrew Yang kicked off 2025 with some predictions about what will happen this year in the US political landscape on his podcast, Forward. ...
09 Jan, 2025
-
2 min read
Image of voters at a polling location.
Bill Filed to Close Indiana's Critical Primary Elections
Indiana lawmakers will consider a bill filed in the state's House of Representatives that seeks to the close the state's primary elections and condition full voting rights on joining one of two major political parties. ...
07 Jan, 2025
-
2 min read