Could Alaska’s New Election System Bring Civility Back to Campaigns?

WASHINGTON — In 2020, Alaskan voters approved an initiative that changed the state’s election system, and many in the state and around the country believe this could be the secret to saving American democracy.

Alaska, the largest state in the union, but with one of the smallest populations, has a new election system that has encouraged the cross-endorsing of candidates and has also seen more diverse and minority candidates run for the state Legislature than ever before.

“Just because we’ve had an election system [in America] that has worked for 200 years … doesn’t mean that the election system is perfect,” Alaska independent state Rep. Calvin Schrage told the Center for American Progress. “Frankly, I think this is a very positive thing. Maybe a more representative candidate can emerge.”

Alaska has established not only a ranked choice voting general election system but a nonpartisan pick one primary election as well. It is often called the “final four.”

This means, as Schrage explained, that “there is just one ballot that everyone gets to vote on in the primary election. Anyone can put their name on that ballot and show up in the primary … and the top four vote-getters from that primary then move on to the general.”

This “opens up the slate [for] anyone who wants to run, regardless of party affiliation,” he said.

Advocates suggest that it also allows voters to feel they have more choice, and, according to Alaska state Rep. Genevieve Mina, a Democrat, has “changed the vibe of the Legislature.”

“After its passage — and seeing the outcomes in the races — I’ve been a little bit converted in how powerful it has been,” Mina said, after admitting she initially opposed the changes.

“I realized that what was really powerful about the electoral change was that it helped break apart the extremism that was happening in the Republican closed primary.”

Alaska’s Democratic primary was already open.

“You don’t have to fear compromising — that’s something that should be rewarded by your voters,” she said, “and for a voter to just feel like they have a little bit more of a choice, that’s great. Voters feel more optimism and engagement in the democratic process.”

State Senate Majority Leader Cathy Giessel, a Republican, explained how the revised process helped her to be more focused on what the voters need, and changed her whole outlook on campaigning.

“It was completely different running in this new system,” Giessel said. “I was talking to people I had never talked to before, going to doors that I had walked past previously. And I was having delightful conversations, conversations that I would never have had if it had not been for that open primary.”

Opponents of Alaska’s first-in-the-nation system, including Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., have said that it disenfranchises voters, or that it is complicated and leads to “rigged” elections.

But voters in more states, including Nevada, are considering the measure. And it isn’t only liberal candidates that have benefited — Virginia Republicans used the ranked choice voting system to choose their gubernatorial nominee, Glenn Youngkin, in 2021.

The biggest opposition may be coming not from individual voters, but from political parties. Voters appreciate that they aren’t forced to rank more than one candidate, but they have the option. If no candidate receives a majority of first-choice votes, there is an automatic runoff and the process continues until someone receives a majority.

An exit poll of Alaska’s system after its initial test revealed 85% of state voters said the system was “simple.”

“This idea that it will radically transform or give one party or another a huge foothold that they otherwise wouldn’t have had, we haven’t seen that in Alaska,” Giessel said.

Instead, “we’ve seen a real difference in the way organization takes place … more focused on what the voters need, and less about what does a party need to make more of an influence on the electorate.”

In Alaska’s first federal test of its voting system, Rep. Mary Peltola, D-Alaska, won a special House election over former Gov. Sarah Palin and Republican Nick Begich. Over time, it may lead to a greater mix of parties and ideologies in office and a new way to connect with voters — and other candidates.

“In politics, representation matters and the relationships between our elected officials matter, too,” Peltola told CAP.

While she believes in Alaska’s new system because it puts pressure on the status quo and gives voters more choice to elect candidates that more closely match their preferences, the fact that it encourages civil campaigning may be most important right now.

“While a lot of ink has been spilled about ranked choice voting. I believe that open primaries are just as important to Alaska’s success story,” Peltola said.

“We don’t have the luxury of self-segregating into political camps … and people have talked about how [the new system] makes for more … civil elections.”

“It’s never been my style to attack my opponents, but even in Alaska’s other state races, the candidates who won were the candidates who stayed above the fray and didn’t engage in … attacks.”

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