Alaska-Style Elections

In November 2020, voters approved commonsense election reforms to reduce partisanship and elect leadership committed to moving Alaska forward. The reforms provided greater transparency in finance reporting for state candidate elections, created a single unified primary open to all voters, and empowered voters in the general election to rank candidates in order of preference. These simple, nonpartisan updates to how we choose our leaders will return the power of elections to its rightful place — with the voters.

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Open Primaries

Open Primaries

The open primary allows every Alaskan voter to vote for any candidate they want, instead of only being able to vote for candidates of a certain party. Voters receive the same ballot with all the candidates listed. Voters pick their favorite candidate and the top four vote-getters advance to the general election.

Benefits of Open Primaries

  • Allows all of us to vote for the  candidates we want.
  • Creates more competition and gives voters more choices.
  • Has correlated with more candidates of color and more women running for office.
  • Protects voting access for the 60% of Alaskans who do not belong to a political party.
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Greater Transparency

Greater Transparency

Alaska now requires additional campaign finance reporting for groups and individuals who raise and spend unlimited amounts of “Dark Money” in Alaska’s campaigns. Under the new reforms, these groups will have to disclose the true sources behind those donations in real-time. Politicians can no longer receive unlimited secret money from wealthy special interests who wish to hide their identities and motives. Candidates can still accept donations, but they’ll have to tell voters where the funds came from so voters can judge for themselves where the candidates' loyalties lie.
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Ranked Choice Voting

Ranked Choice General Election

  • Vote for your favorite as your 1st choice, then rank the rest in order of preference.
  • Ranking other candidates doesn’t harm your 1st choice.
  • Ranking ensures your voice is heard, even if your favorite candidate is eliminated.

Benefits of Ranked Choice Voting

  • Ensures that the winner is a candidate with broad, majority support.
  • Solves the “spoiler effect” and allows voters to support the candidate they like the most without fear of helping their least favorite candidate.
  • Encourages positive campaigning and rewards candidates who appeal to a bigger pool  of voters, rather than one extreme or the other.
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See sample ballot
Ranked Choice Voting

Open Primaries

For 50 years, Primary Day in Alaska was about voters, not parties. Voters could choose any candidate for any office under Alaska’s original primary system. It worked. But it was taken away by party insiders who wanted to restrict who could vote for particular candidates. Now, all eligible voters will use a single unified primary ballot in which they can select whichever candidate they prefer best in each race — regardless of party — and the top four vote-getters will advance to the general election. State-funded elections will be open to all voters. It’s that simple. That small change to our primary system will boost turnout and provide all Alaskan voters with more choices.
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See sample ballot
Frequently Asked Questions

Frequently Asked Questions

Other frequently asked questions.

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