The statewide effort to repeal ranked-choice voting in Alaska is firing on all cylinders according to organizers who are currently gathering needed signatures to place the issue on the 2024 general election ballot.

Alaskans For Honest Elections is working to amass at least 26,000 signatures in order to put ranked-choice voting up for reconsideration by voters next year. To date, they have nearly 20,000 in hand with more pouring in daily. The goal is to turn in upwards of 130,000 names from all across Alaska, and to do so by Sept. 1, six months before the deadline.

If they are successful, Alaskans will have a chance to repeal ranked-choice voting and return to the traditional system that was removed by the narrowest of margins in a 2020 ballot measure.

At that time, many Alaskans were under the impression that the proposition would prevent outside dark money from influencing state politics. While this has proven false, the new ranking system has been shown to favor left-of-center candidates, both in Alaska and all across the nation.

All totaled, the repeal group has 870 petition signature books still in circulation. If all of them are filled out, they will have amassed 132,000 signatures, more than five times the needed amount to put the issue on the ballot.

“We have had such incredible success; we have asked all our Alaskan volunteers to return their books six months early,” an update from the group stated.

No matter how many names are submitted, ranked choice voting won’t go down without a fight from well-funded and left-leaning outside interest groups that are spending millions already to keep the ranked-choice voting scheme firmly in place.

An outside Lower-48 group called Veterans for Political Innovation has recently set up an Eagle River chapter to promote ranked choice voting and jungle primaries among Alaska’s military and veteran residents – a demographic that typically leans more conservative.

The leader of this pro-ranked choice voting chapter is Michael Flint, a AKOSH safety consultant for the State of Alaska and U.S. Navy veteran. According to his LinkedIn page, he’s also an LGBTQ activist who spends time promoting the diversity and inclusion agenda among unions and government agencies.

In describing himself, Flint states: “I have lived in Alaska for the last 10 years and love taking my dogs outdoors, spending time with my pot-belly pig Hamilton, and playing whatever new Nintendo Switch game is available.”

Many of the same organizations and individuals that promote and fund ranked-choice voting nationally are associated with Flint’s group.

TAKING ACTION

— To learn more about the effort to repeal ranked choice voting, click here.

— The next signature gathering event will be on May 26 (all day) at the Friday Flings event in downtown Palmer. Other events are scheduled throughout the summer. Click here for more information.

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