After counting 246,171 votes, the fate of Alaska’s controversial ranked-choice voting system is still very uncertain.
According to the latest update from the Alaska Division of Elections, 50.87% of Alaskans have voted to do away with ranked-choice, while 49.13% voted to keep the new system. That’s with 96.77% of political precincts reporting.
In terms of raw votes, Ballot Measure 2 is ahead by just 4,289 votes. If the ballot question ultimately prevails, Alaska will return to holding traditional party primaries and scrap the complicated candidate ranking system that is favored by Democrats and those on the political left.
With an unknown number of outstanding ballots yet to be tallied, the contest is still too close to call. These early, absentee and questioned ballots will be tabulated over the next few days as they trickle in through the mail.
According to a report from the Washington Post, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada and Oregon rejected efforts to impose ranked-choice voting in those states, while voters in the heavily left-leaning District of Columbia voted to approve the novel voting scheme.
