Ranked choice voting and open primaries are two bad ideas whose time has certainly not come yet. Both ideas have been on the ballot in several states this election year, and even though proponents of both bad ideas have literally poured bushel baskets of money into their campaigns to get these things passed, they failed – almost everywhere.
Two weeks before Election Day, activists from across the country gathered in an online rally to announce the historic number of state ballot initiatives aimed at changing the way people vote. Hopes were high that voters would abandon time-honored partisan primaries and opt for more candidate-choice ballots.
Instead, the electoral reform movement lost almost everywhere it appeared in a statewide vote.
“Looking back, it turned out we weren’t ready for prime time,” said John Opdycke, president of the advocacy group Open Primaries, which organized the rally.
In Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, Oregon and South Dakota — a mix of red, blue and purple states — voters rejected both Ranked Choice Votingopen area codes or a combination of both.
These are bad ideas – but why?
First, open the area codes. We have political parties for a reason: to give each side the opportunity to field the candidates that the members of that party believe will best represent their interests. It’s counterproductive for non-Republicans to actually tell Republicans who their candidate should be, and frankly the opposite is also true. Democrats should not allow non-Democrats to influence who the Democratic nominee should be.
Secondly, Ranking Choice Voting (RCV), which in fact also requires an open primary election. The principle of “one voter, one vote” is violated by these convoluted and, for many, confusing systems. During Alaska’s first apply of this system, I heard someone complain about this system – along with comments like “I vote my first choice and that’s it.” This year it looks like that No election results were changed in the RCV numbers, but in 2022 the RCV system was largely seen as a relief for Mary Peltola on the way to an election victory, in part because she had two Republican challengers. That didn’t happen this year and she was replaced in favor of Republican Nick Begich III.
See related: Alaska Election Preview: Will the Last Frontier Make Ranked Voting Obsolete?
WIN: Republican Nick Begich III wins the at-large seat in the Alaska House
Alaska’s final vote count is complete: The repeal of ranked-choice voting failed, but there was some good news
But while proponents of RCV and open primaries significantly outnumbered opponents, They still failed.
Proponents of electoral reform Democrats raised about $110 million for the statewide ballot measures, far outpacing their opponents, according to an Associated Press campaign finance analysis that could grow even larger as postelection reports are filed. Nevertheless, their advertising campaign was not enough to convince most voters.
That is, they failed everywhere except Alaska. Our RCV system passed by a razor-thin majority in 2020, and repeal failed by a similarly razor-thin majority in 2024, even though the pro-repeal side opposed it clearly exceededincluding a lot of gloomy money that flowed in from “Outside”.
Another attempt at repeal is already being organized for 2026. The people of Alaska don’t give up easily. And the tide seems to be turning against this bad idea.
Academic research has also cast doubt on the benefits of ranked-choice voting, said Larry Jacobs, a professor of politics at the University of Minnesota. He said fewer black voters tend to rank candidates than white voters, and there is little evidence that ranked choice voting reduces political polarization or negative campaigning.
“I think the trend toward ranked-choice voting is moving away from that,” Jacobs said.
One voter, one vote should be the rule. And this year the forces for this basic principle have won – clearly. And up here in the Big Country we may be tardy, but we can’t be beat.
