Alaska voters aren't ditching ranked choice voting, top-four primaries

Alaska upholds ranked choice voting and top-four primaries This is the second time Alaskans voted down an effort to repeal the state's unique election system, which voters first approved in 2020. A repeal effort in 2024 also failed narrowly.

A voter walks into a booth at the Valley Bible Chalet to cast his ballot on Election Day, Nov. 3, in Indian, Alaska.

A ballot measure that would have repealed Alaska's nonpartisan primary system and ranked choice voting has failed, according to an overnight race call by the Associated Press.

This is the second time Alaskans voted down an effort to repeal the state's unique election system, which voters first approved in 2020. A repeal effort in 2024 also failed narrowly .

This year, though, Alaska's system was under intense nationwide scrutiny, due to the inclusion of two candidates with the same name on the four-person U.S. Senate general election ballot. That race appears likely to move on to a ranked-choice tabulation.

"Alaskans of all political stripes have spoken: They want the freedom to vote for any candidate, regardless of party, in every taxpayer-funded election," Nick Troiano — the executive director of Unite America, a philanthropic venture fund that invests in nonpartisan electoral reform — said in a statement before the AP call. "At a time when most general elections across the country are essentially coronations, the Last Frontier is showing that a better way is possible. It is time to honor the voters' decision and move forward."

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