Today, I submitted a column to several of the major newspapers in Idaho to warn them of how Ranked-Choice Voting could harm elections in their state. The same dark money outside interests that foisted RCV off on Alaska in 2020 are trying to do the same thing to our friends in Idaho. This is my column.
In the November election, Idaho voters will vote on a ballot initiative to begin using Ranked-Choice Voting (RCV) in your state. Alaska adopted a similar initiative in the 2020 election. I advise you not to make the same mistake we did; you will regret it.
Like Idaho, political activists from outside our state were behind an initiative in 2020 and provided money to get it on the ballot. These interests then paid for television and newspaper advertisements to sell voters the false idea that RCV would result in higher voter turnouts and quicker election results. The initiative barely passed in our state by a 50.55% to 49.45% margin and has delivered neither of the promised results.
Like what has been proposed in Idaho, Alaska’s 2020 initiative included open primary elections, with the top four vote-getters moving on to the general election. Voters in the general election were free to rank the candidates according to their preferences.
Alaska first used the system in 2022 and found several problems with it. The most crucial aspect of RCV is that it did not deliver an election result that represented the people’s will. Like Idaho, Alaska is a conservative red state. Before RCV, we had a conservative Republican representative for our lone congressional seat from 1973 to 2022.
In the 2022 primary election, Republicans had a strong showing, with two Republicans, one Libertarian, and one Democrat making it onto the General Election ballot. In the first round of the General Election, the combined Republican vote was 135,834, compared to the 128,755 votes for the Democrat candidate. It was apparent that voters wanted a Republican Congressman, but because their vote was split between two Republican candidates, nobody won a majority in the first round.
The RCV automatic runoff was then required. During this process, certain ballots were discarded if the voter had only filled out their one preferred candidate and did not have all four candidates ranked. This is called “exhausting” the ballot. To learn more about how this happens, do a Google search on “exhausted ballots in Ranked Choice Voting.” No fair and equitable election system ever discards ballots, but RCV does.
ALASKA WATCHMAN DIRECT TO YOUR INBOX
The result was that after three rounds of an automatic runoff, 13,894 ballots were discarded and not counted, giving the election to Democrat Mary Peltola.
Another problem is that after switching to RCV, Alaskans found that this voting system confuses voters, resulting in lower voter turnout. The 2022 General Election and 2024 Primary elections had the lowest turnouts in Alaska election history! Lastly, RCV allows political parties to work the system to win when they otherwise wouldn’t. In elections for our state house, we found that political parties can run multiple candidates and disguise their political beliefs to dilute the votes of their opponents in races. There are tactical and strategic advantages to RCV that didn’t become apparent until after Alaska used it for the first time.
Alaskans are so dissatisfied with RCV that the issue is back on the ballot this fall. We will have the chance to vote to repeal RCV this November. It would be ironic if your state adopted RCV at the same time our state rejected it.
Idaho voters should not make the same mistake Alaska did. Do not let political lobbies from outside your state convince you to adopt RCV. They are not doing this because they want what’s best for Idaho voters but only to influence future elections in your state to their advantage. I advise every voter in Idaho to vote against the adoption of Ranked Choice Voting.
The views expressed here are those of Greg Sarber. Read more Sarber posts at his Seward’s Folly substack.
25 Comments
RINOs and Demonrats will be pushing this as fast as they can before the rest of the country figures out why it destroys conservatism.
Thank you for this article Greg. Shared the link with some buddies in idaho!
A friend in Nevada said they had it shoved down their throats too. Why can’t a candidate win on their own merit? If they’re that big of a looser they shouldn’t get in by default as what happened in Alaska.
Thank you! I’m not in Idaho but I never understood the dire consequences of RCV until you explained them so clearly.
I’m sure your clarity will wake up a lot of voters in Idaho.
Ranked choice aka Rigged Choice.
Alaska Republicans are keen on blaming the election of Mary Peltola on RCV when, in fact, the high end egoists Palin and Begich split the ticket.
Alaska Republicans are keen on blaming the election of Mary Peltola on RCV when, in fact, the high end egoists Palin and Begich split the ticket.
How many accounts do you have on this site ? Pretending to be different people ? .. So far, it looks like three..
At least three. I have Dissociative Identity Disorder.
“At least three. I have Dissociative Identity Disorder.” Or said more succinctly, “I’m a democrat (progressive, woke, liberal, blue, brain-dead communist).”
We need a forensic audit of the 2020 proposition 2 vote. It had all of the characteristics of other “bare wins” and enough reason to believe that it was pushed through with voter fraud. If Dahlstrom was worth anything, she would immediately do a forensic audit.
I think that RCV got passed using mail-in and absentee ballots imho.
You MAGAs just keep touring voter fraud. It wasn’t voter fraud.
It wasn’t voter fraud…it was a blatant election theft that cheated the voters’ of their right to have their voices heard and their votes counted.
Excellent and clearly explained! Thank you Mr. Seaber! I only hope, and pray, Idaho voters will see and heed!
Greg, my family in Wisconsin is looking for a warning letter to submit to local papers, as there’s talk of bringing RCV there, too. Is there a chance you’d be willing to do something similar or editing/tailoring your current article for Wisconsin?
The Republicans promoted ranked choice voting until it elected a RINO and a Democrat. I like the way it turned out.
WHO promoted ranked choice voting? Seems I remember outside groups pushing ranked choice voting…just like they are pushing for us to keep it and they are using RINO reps like Murkowski and Sumner to push their agenda.
That is absolutely a lie and you probably know that. It was outside money and Demoncrats that pushed this scheme.
You omit the most important part – it takes forever to get the results and the process does not feel very transparent.
Warning :Stay away from RCV . Its convoluted system.
One vote for one person , same day results wirks
Warning from alaskans :Stay away from RCV . Its convoluted system.
One vote for one person , same day results wirks
Nailed it, Greg! And also remember how the proponents of RCV tried to keep the repeal off the ballot, using every legal trick they could.
Ranked choice voting has been wonderful for Alaska sofar. Every state should adopt it and give their voters more freedom and power in our elections. We wouldn’t have to worry about anti-american fascist extremists like Trump and Palin ever again. Alaskans didn’t support them in the last 2 elections. They still won’t in the next 2.
Could you at least try and give the veneer of not lying? The last time Alaskans were stupid enough to vote more for a Demoncrat presidential candidate was for the awful LBJ.