Democrats are livid that an incarcerated New Jersey inmate has made it as one of the four candidates who will appear on the general election ballot in the upcoming contest for Alaska’s lone U.S. Congressional seat.
Democrats are planning to appeal to the Alaska Supreme Court, but as things currently stand, Eric Hafner will be among the ballot choices on Nov. 5. He’s currently serving a 20-year prison sentence in New York state for calling in false bomb alerts and sending threatening messages to New Jersey public officials, including police officers, judges and lawyers.
On Sept. 10, an Anchorage Superior Court Judge Ian Wheeles ruled that Hafner has every legal right to remain on the ballot despite Democratic party protests or his checkered past and current residence in a federal prison.
Democrats aren’t happy, because Hafner claims to be one of their own, and he will likely siphon off votes from incumbent Democratic U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola in her tight race against Republican challenger Nick Begich.
But this is exactly the kind of shenanigans that can occur under Alaska’s bizarre new Ranked-Choice voting system.
In 2020, voters narrowly approved a RCV ballot measure, which did away with traditional party primaries – a valuable tool that weeds out candidates like Hafner.
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Under Alaska’s former system, Democrats would have been able to hold a traditional party primary, wherein voters would have decided their top candidate to run on the general election ballot. Not so with RCV and the new jungle primary, which allows any Tom, Dick or Hafner to simply claim a party affiliation and make it to the final ballot with little or no support from the party they claim to represent.
Hafner finished in sixth place during last month’s Aug. 20 primary, in which the top four vote getters automatically advance to the general. But since two of the top four candidates – Republicans Nancy Dahlstrom and Matthew Salisbury – dropped out after the primary, Hafner has been bumped up two spots into fourth place. Now, instead of multiple Republicans on the general election ballot, there are two Democrats, Alaska Independence Party candidate John Wayne Howe, and lone Republican Nick Begich.
The irony here is that Democrats lobbied for RCV and the jungle primary – and continue to defend today. They saw it as a way to split the Republican vote in the general election in order to deliver victory to Democratic candidates. Now, the chickens have come home to roost, and the Peltola camp will need to spend money and resources trying to convince Alaska Democrats not to vote for Hafner.
There’s no reason to believe this type of situation won’t happen again in the future – for either political party.
If Democrats don’t want to fritter away resources during a tight election, they should have never championed RCV in the first place.
Alaska Republican Party Chairman Carmela Warfield said as much, following Judge Wheeles ruling.
“The Alaska Democratic Party seems just as frustrated as so many other Alaskans are with this ill-conceived law,” she noted. “All Alaskans – regardless of party affiliation – have the opportunity this November to prevent this type of nonsense from ever happening again by returning to a system of fair elections that all Alaskans can be proud of.”
If voters pass Ballot Measure 2 on Nov. 5, RCV and jungle primaries will be a thing of the past, and the state will return to its historic, time-tested election system.
17 Comments
It’s not a Republican v Democrat. It’s whether a felon should represent us. In Alaska and our country, a felon should not have that privilege
LET”S go HAF ner!
1-2-3-4
LET”S go HAF ner!
Correction Payola: it’s not a Republican v Democrat; it is good versus evil. This is beyond politics.
I tried to share this to Facebook but it did not meet community standards. I contested it.
This is all because democrats what to cheat and now tgey will either play fair again or loose everything! It’s all in to the democrats!
Well said Mr. Davidson! Alaskan Democrats need to vote to repeal ranked choice voting also!
From the comments it appears that folks need to be reminded that the primary author of the 2020 ranked choice voting ballot initiative was a Republican, not a Democrat.
Is that right Reggie? Can you provide the name of this “Republican” who was the primary author? I don’t believe that a Republican was the primary author of that ballot initiative. However, we have some Rinos that were happy with RCV and they had their little buddies working to install RCV.
Scott Kendall.
A RINO is a registered Republican, although Mr. Kendall recently changed his party declaration to non-partisan.
https://alaskapublic.org/2024/05/22/meet-scott-kendall-father-of-alaskas-ranked-choice-voting-and-lightning-rod-for-the-right/
I don’t care how Kendall “registered.” He is a demonrat through and through and works for dark money.
Alaska Ballot Measure 2 information at ballotpedia: https://ballotpedia.org/Alaska_Ballot_Measure_2,_Top-Four_Ranked-Choice_Voting_and_Campaign_Finance_Laws_Initiative_(2020)
Remember to get out and Vote. Vote yes to repeal RCV, so we can have fair elections again.
Next we need to get rid of these machines, that can be hacked into.
Paper ballots one vote in person with ID Yes with ID.
Everyone has lost their mind. represent yourself. We have internet and technology now. we can all vote on issues without a Corrupt leach embezzling our money.
“…….Everyone has lost their mind………”
Yup, and nobody is in therapy.
Ranked Choice Voting was brought to us through Murkowski’s office aide. Undercover people discovered and record what took place. The aide did not want to lose the power of Congress which would have happened if Lisa Murkowski had failed to be reelected. Kelly Tshibaka would have won and then the DC swamp or machine would have lost power. The same ranked choice is used in France and the French have not been able to get their best choice into leadership. She wins part way through the election and then the other competitive partices get to weigh in and together they gang up and she loses. Ranked Choice Voting is unconstitutional and demonic. Scott Kendall, a talentless lawyer made the pitch to a crooked judge who claimed it was legal. Vote YES to repeal RCV. Let’s not be tricked again by the constant indoctrination by the mainstream media and advertisers from Colorado et.al. Pray for an honest election. Also, the Dominion voting machines can be programmed and we do not have a way to put it in check. We have heard from three different unrelated sources including the admissions in a court case by the owners of the machines.
“I don’t care how Kendall “registered.” He is a demonrat through and through and works for dark money.”
Then continue to watch the Republican Party splinter and die like the Whigs, and for the exact same reasons.
Some folks never learn……..likely because they “don’t care” about reality.
Reggie, did you volunteer your time and effort to help get Ballot measure 2 on the ballot? I put my time in and I know who Crooked Scott is and how he has been attacking this movement to get rid of ranked choice voting over and over and over again. Some who works against what Conservatives believe in is not a “Republican.”