Alaska Survey Research pollster Ivan Moore, who claims to be a “huge supporter” of ranked choice voting, says the controversial voting system may be in serious trouble.
In a series of Tweets late last month, Moore revealed the results of a recent poll of 1,397 registered Alaskan voters. Conducted Jan. 12-18, the poll showed that more than half of Alaskans now want to ditch RCV.
The question Moore posed was this: “On a future statewide ballot that proposes the repeal of Ranked Choice Voting and a return to the prior election process in Alaska, would you vote yes or no to repeal Ranked Choice Voting?” The results? Yes 53% No 47%.
These results could change considerably in the coming months as RCV opponents begin gathering signatures and holding events and rallies aimed at repealing the voting scheme in the 2024 general election.
Moore called it a “brutal reality.”
“Everyone who follows me here on the Twits knows that I am a huge supporter of RCV, but these numbers show the reality,” he Tweeted. “The original passage of RCV was by a very narrow margin and any idea that ‘once we have an RCV election, everyone will love it’ is NOT the case.”
Alaskans narrowly approved RCV in the 2020 election (50.5% to 49.4%). Many voters were under the impression that the ballot initiative was primarily intended to do away with so-called “dark money,” but it’s primary accomplishment was to usher in a confusing election scheme that banned party primaries and created a controversial system of computer tabulated run-off eliminations to determine winners.
