In a newly released video by Project Veritas, paid staffers with U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s reelection campaign reveal that the leftist Republican lawmaker was quietly supporting passage of ranked choice voting in Alaska back in 2020.
Alaskans narrowly approved the ballot measure (50.5% to 49.4%), which does away with party primaries and creates a confusing system of run-off eliminations when it comes to electing candidates.
Published on Aug. 10, the new undercover video features two Murkowski staffers.
Josiah Nash, Murkowski’s campaign interior coordinator, said the senator “stayed quiet” when Ballot Measure 2 went before voters, but that she “supports” the new scheme.
“Between you and me, Ballot Measure 2 was actually created – I think it was created for two reasons,” Nash says on the video. “Number one, it was created because there were people in this state who wanted to see a better system, but they also wanted Lisa to get re-elected.”
Murkowski’s campaign coordinator, Emma Ashlock, revealed similar information while being secretly recorded at a restaurant.
“While we were working on Ballot Measure 2 and voting for Ballot Measure 2, we had Senator Murkowski in mind the whole time,” she admitted. “I think she [Sen. Murkowski] technically stayed neutral [on Ballot Measure 2], but like, behind the scenes…”
Ashlock said she knows that “a lot of people who were working on Ballot Measure 2 … have worked for Senator Murkowski.”
According to Ashlock, the Murkowski camp thinks Democrat Pat Chesbro’s senatorial campaign will ultimately benefit Murkowski under the new voting system.
Under the new rules of ranked choice voting, Alaskans are asked to rank their top four candidates in the Aug. 16 primary. Every candidate, regardless of party, will be on a single ballot. The top four vote-getters will then advance to the general election in November. If no candidate gains more than 50% of the vote in November, the last place finisher is automatically eliminated and the second-place choices on those ballots become first place votes for the three remaining candidates.
At one point Nash suggested on camera that Ballot Measure 2 was not presented in a forthcoming manner to Alaskan voters – most notably, the fact that it helps progressive candidates.
Chesbro is a hard-left and militantly pro-abortion candidate who likely will syphon off Democrat votes from Murkowski in the initial primary on Aug. 16, as well as the Nov. 8 general. If Chesbro finishes in the top four on Aug. 16 – as is expected – and is then the fourth-place finisher in November, she will be eliminated after the first round of counting. Since Murkowski is seen as the next best option for most Democrats, the vast majority of Chesbro’s second-place votes would likely be for Murkowski.
Murkowski’s main challenger, pro-life conservative Kelly Tshibaka, won’t receive hardly any new votes if Chesbro is eliminated.
Since four candidates will be listed in the general election, the prospect of an outright winner in round one is unlikely. That means the second-choice votes listed under eliminated candidates are highly valued for those candidates who survive the first or second rounds.
This is one of the flaws initially highlighted by opponents of ranked choice voting – the possibility of manipulating the vote in order to defeat leading conservative candidates, who would otherwise win in a traditional head-to-head contest.
Tshibaka, however, has solid support from Republicans and conservative minded Alaskans. If she can convince these voters to back her in overwhelming numbers, she could win a majority of votes in the first round of the November election and thereby avoid having to survive a challenging second or third round of vote counting.
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Similarly, if a conservative candidate is the first to be eliminated in November (instead of Chesbro) those votes would probably overwhelmingly go to Tshibaka.
“From our data guys, Tyler and Roman, they say the race is gonna come down to Kelly Tshibaka and Senator Murkowski,” Ashlock told undercover reporters. “So, anyone who votes for Pat Chesbro first and ranks Senator Murkowski second, that vote is gonna become a vote for Senator Murkowski… Every single Pat Chesbro voter who ranks Senator Murkowski second, we get their votes. If we can get people to do that, then we have it in the bag.”
At one point Nash suggested on camera that Ballot Measure 2 was not presented in a forthcoming manner to Alaskans – most notably, the fact that it helps progressive candidates.
“They framed it [Ballot Measure 2] basically, you know, ‘This gives you more choice’ – ‘This makes it so we have better candidates.’ And I think it helps progressive candidates…If it was [called] a progressive measure, it wouldn’t really work,” Nash said.
23 Comments
Great job Joel.. abolish RCV…
A progressive idea that steals your vote. Run it out of town! Byw I certainly don’t believe it passed legitimately with 50.5% wanting this garbage. Like living in Cuba or Venezuela. My vote should go to my choice of candidate.
FALSE DATA in article!
The Alaskan “primary” election is traditional Plurality Voting. Only the General Election uses IRV.
DO YOUR HOMEWORK! YOU DON’T EVEN KNOW WHAT YOU’RE BADMOUTHING!
WE DO NOT NEED RANKED VOTING .
Lisa is a wolf in sheep clothing.
Vote this lying, cheater, loser out. We need to put Kelly over the 51% to stop this rank choice voting bs
And what happens if Lisa is left blank?
That’s what I did. I do not, under any circumstances, vote democrat, so I left it blank. In fact, I left everything blank except Kelly’s. Not sure how this will help, if at all. If they shove it through a Dominion machine, it doesn’t really matter anyway.
It sounds like this election is rigged already. You can’t publish how to vote and it be fair.. if Lisa Murkowski is such a looser then she needs to be gone.. If she can’t win on her own who needs her? It appears that Lisa knew she wouldn’t win so came up with this plan. Then the people weren’t told the truth as always by the democrats so now she will win reelection for being worthless but time in office! I’m hoping that Tshibaka wins in the first round and puts Murkowski out of a job.
The hole she’s in gets deeper and deeper, she is a swamp creature.
Just like her daddy
Murkowski has corrupted this great state.
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2022/08/11/lisa-murkowski-runs-reporters-question-change-state-election-law/
In the video, was that was Bernadette Wilson, president of Americans For Prosperity, running interference for the Senator Murkowski?
Tshibaka will not win! She has done a great job campaigning. She is greatly qualified! I am voting for her! Why won’t she win then? The system is rigged!! Kelly did an investigation into division of elections and found fraudulent cheating! Rank choice voting that Mike Pacarro made a large sum of money on will secure Kelly’s loss!!!
Our vote does not count anymore unless we overwhelm the system which is not going to happen!!!!
This is BS
The only way Murkowski ever gets elected is by deceiving the voters. Unfortunately, folks don’t pay much attention to what she’s doing when it’s not an election year.
The way to beat their rcv scam is to vote for only one candidate. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO RANK THEM. YOU CAN CHOOSE ONLY ONE. This os the only way to beat it. Thats why they don’t tell you this
Have we abandoned the cause, “One person, one vote?”
Has anyone else noticed that Lisa’s campaign radio ad is directed at one special interest group. She transfer plenty of cash from your pocket to the special interest fishing industry in Alaska. We don’t need a special interest candidate representing Alaskan’s. She is suppose to represent all of us not just the fishing fleet and the native corporations.
Popular vote should be eliminated, period. We should go to a convention system and have party members, who are aware of the time we’re living in, to vote for the person. The founders never wanted a directly elected leader.
Why do we allow this to happen? We sit by and watch and complain about it but nothing will get change. Murky will be allowed to do what she has always done, cheat and steal. What a shame.
Make your 1,2,3 and 4 choices all for Tshibaka.
If you do that, your vote will not count. Read the rules and examples that have been mailed out in force.