As Alaskans consider this fall whether to repeal their new ranked-choice voting election system, leaders of the state’s Native tribes have emerged as key defenders of the system. They’re working to mobilize Alaska Natives, who make up roughly 20 percent of the state’s population, against repeal.

It was just four years ago that voters approved the switch to this new way of running elections. But Republicans have lashed out against the change ever since Democrat Mary Peltola won the first election held under the new rules in 2022, flipping Alaska’s sole U.S. House seat. This also made Peltola the first Alaska Native to join Congress.

Alaskans for Honest Elections, an organization founded in early 2023 in opposition to ranked-choice voting, put an initiative on the ballot this fall to turn back the clock. If Measure 2 passes in November, it would end Alaska’s novel system, under which the state holds an open primary, with all candidates running on one ballot regardless of party, and then the top four candidates face off in a ranked-choice voting general election. Instead, the state would return to a more conventional approach: partisan primaries, followed by a first-past-the-post election.

How Ranked-Choice Voting Promotes Equity for Native Communities

Alaska Native leaders are now working to consolidate support for the open primary and ranked-choice voting system. The state’s largest tribal organization, the Alaska Federation of Natives (AFN), formally endorsed the new rules last year at its annual convention.

The AFN adopted a resolution that said the system better represents Native voters by allowing “more freedom, more choice, more influence, and greater participation.”

AFN members have since launched a coordinated campaign to persuade voters to oppose Measure 2. Native leaders say they’ll be reaching people through public radio, local newspapers and pop-up events in rural areas.

“No system is going to be perfect. Ranked-choice voting gets us closer to something that is equitable,” said Barbara ‘Wáahlaal Gidaag Blake, an elected board member of the Sealaska Corporation, one of Alaska’s regional organizations that manages Indigenous land claims.

Read the full article about ranked-choice voting in Alaska by Pascal Sabino at Bolts.