Alaska set to announce results from ‘confusing’ ranked choice system
by Al Weaver - 11/23/22 6:00 AM ET
Alaska’s lengthy and convoluted election process is set to come to an end on Wednesday when Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R) and Rep. Mary Peltola (D) are likely to finally emerge as the winners — largely thanks to the state’s new ranked-choice system.
The Alaska Division of Elections will reveal the final unofficial results on Wednesday night.
Murkowski leads Republican challenger Kelly Tshibaka by less than 1,700 votes — 43.3 percent to 42.7 percent.
In the House contest, Peltola holds a commanding lead, with 48.7 percent support over Republicans Sarah Palin at 25.8 percent and Nick Begich at 23.4 percent.
According to the new election system, contests where neither candidate reaches the 50 percent mark will see the candidate who finished with the lowest numbers eliminated.
The voters who backed that individual then have their votes reallocated to their second choices.
Ultimately, only two candidates are left at the end until a winner is determined.
That is why Murkowski is the favorite, as the votes of Democrat Pat Chesbro, who won 10.4 percent of the vote, will likely shift overwhelmingly to the moderate senator.
According to a memo sent to interested parties on Monday, the Murkowski campaign expects that at least 70 percent of the 26,874 votes cast for Chesbro will end up in her column, which would put her over the top.
“Any remaining outstanding votes (absentee and early) will break favorably for Lisa Murkowski. When the ranked-choice process plays out on November 23rd and 2nd place votes are tallied, Lisa Murkowski will once again secure re-election,” Nate Adams, Murkowski’s campaign manager, wrote in the memo.
On the House side, all signs point to Peltola winning for the second time in four months, even though more voters in total cast ballots for one of the two Republicans, Palin and Begich.
The reason is that a large number of voters who picked Palin or Begich as their top candidate picked Peltola as their second choice.
more
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/3747213-alaska-set-to-announce-results-from-confusing-ranked-choice-system/
