Ten days after Election Day, the Associated Press called Alaska’s repeal measure: voters chose to keep ranked-choice voting (RCV) and the state’s open primaries. The Gateway Pundit reported the call came Friday night with roughly 96% of ballots counted.
Bottom line: repeal failed
According to figures cited by The Gateway Pundit, about 53.5% voted against repeal and 46.5% voted for it. The outlet says the result keeps the system voters first approved in 2020 and began using in 2022.
What the measure would have changed
Per the same report, the proposal would have scrapped RCV and open primaries, returning Alaska to partisan primaries and traditional general elections.
Who backed the repeal
The Gateway Pundit writes that President Donald Trump supported the repeal effort and that Elon Musk contributed $1.5 million to the campaign seeking to end RCV.
Why the count took this long
The article notes Alaska accepts most properly postmarked absentee ballots through November 13 and ballots mailed from overseas through November 18. As a result, large batches of absentee, early, and questioned ballots were added over the following week.
Context and repeated outcome
The Gateway Pundit states this is the second straight election in which Alaskans rejected an attempt to repeal RCV. The outlet says a 2024 repeal effort failed by 743 votes after late-counted ballots changed the initial Election Night lead for repeal supporters. Politico posted, “Alaska voters stick with ranked-choice voting, again,” on X, as quoted by the article.
Additional claims from the source
The Gateway Pundit asserts that RCV aided Sen. Lisa Murkowski by helping her win via second-choice votes from Democrats and says she recently endorsed Democrat Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins for governor. The same piece also describes an unresolved U.S. Senate race and outlines that, under Alaska’s RCV, if no candidate tops 50% of first-choice votes, the last-place candidate is eliminated and ballots are redistributed until someone passes 50%.
Note: Items in this section are presented as claims from The Gateway Pundit and have not been independently verified here.
