The Independent View: Sponsors of Complex Alaska’s Better Elections Initiative Say its Benefits are Clear

Alaska Elections would be very Different if a Proposed Ballot Initiative Passes next year.

Advocates for the Measure say it would Promote more Open Politics in the State, but State Republican Leaders say it’s Unconstitutional.

Jason Grenn, an Independent and Former State Representative, is the Primary Sponsor of what’s Called the Alaska’s Better Elections Initiative. “We’re setting ourselves up, honestly, to try to be the gold standard of election reforms,” Grenn said.

The Initiative would do a lot of things, like Strengthen Financial Disclosure Laws. And the Election Reforms are Complicated. Grenn said there are a Lot of Ways to Help Voters Understand the Process.

“In these states and cities that have implemented it, to kind of educate people, they’ll do a big … cookie election,” Grenn said. “And you rank your favorite cookies or you rank your favorite beer. Or you can rank your favorite movies. And so there’s different ways to kind of educate people.”

Currently, the Top Vote-Getter from Each Party in the Primaries, as well as any Independent Candidates, Advance to the General Election. There are Separate Primaries for the Republicans and for the Democrats and Others.

If the Initiative were to Pass, Primary Voters would cast a Vote for any Candidate on One Ballot, That Includes those who Identify with a Political Party, Independents, and Write-In Contenders. The Top Four would Advance to the General Election in November.

In the November General Election, Voter using Rank-Choice Voting, would be able to Rank the Four Candidates:

- If a Candidate gets a Majority of the First-Choice Ballots, They Win.

- But if that doesn’t happen, then the Ballots of the People who Voted for the Fourth-Place Candidate would have their Votes Redistributed to the others, based on how the Voters Ranked them.

- And at that point, if there’s still No Candidate with a Majority of the Votes, then the Voters for the Third-Place Candidate would have their Backup Choices Split between the Two Remaining Candidates to Determine the Majority Winner.

Grenn supports the Change in part because it would provide an Incentive for Candidates to be the Second-Choice of Voters who like other Candidates. Grenn said Candidates in Ranked-Choice Elections don’t Want to Alienate those Voters.

“Stay away from negative advertising,” Grenn said of these Candidates. “Talk more about … the issues that they want to debate. And really, as voters, you know, every study, every poll says voters want more civility. They want less negative advertising.”

He said this Advantage becomes even greater when it’s Combined with the Top-Four system. That’s because it will No Longer Hurt for a more Moderate or Independent Candidate who’s Affiliated with a Party to Run in the Primary, and they can still make it to the General Election even if they don’t Appeal to Voters on a Narrow, Partisan Basis.

“Now they have a fair shake because they can earn that second-place vote, they can get to the general election and have more time to work with voters,” Grenn said.

Grenn closed his Pitch for the Initiative by asking whether Voters are Happy with the Current System. “Take the time to think about, ‘Is the system working for me right now? Is this candidate representing me right now?'” he said. “I think there’s always ways to improve current systems.”

Some say the Initiative Violates a Provision of the Alaska Constitution that Requires that the Candidate for Governor who Receives the Greatest Number of Votes becomes the Governor and it Violates the Federal Constitution.

The Initiative effort has received more than $500,000 from an Out-of-State Group, Unite America, that aims to Reduce Partisanship. It’s Drawing Interest from Other Groups focused on Overhauling Elections across the Country.

Drew Penrose is Legal and Policy Director for FairVote, a Maryland-based Group that Works to Inform Voters about Ranked-Choice Voting and other Changes. Penrose agreed with Grenn that the Combination of an Open Primary that Advances Four Candidates and Ranked-Choice Voting would work well.

“Having multiple viewpoints, more than two viewpoints present in the general election, is something that people probably want everywhere,” Penrose said. “And if there are multiple groups operating within the label of Republican, then it seems like providing a way for those to be expressed in the general election could have real value.”

It’s far from a Done Deal that the Initiative will even Appear on Alaska’s Ballot. The Organizers have to gather more than 28,000 Signatures by Jan. 21st to get it on the Ballot in 2020. Grenn said they already have “several thousand.”

If there are Enough Signatures, the Alaska Republican Party would Consider a Lawsuit Challenging its Constitutionality.