In the ongoing drama regarding the fate of Alaska ranked-choice voting system, the Division of Elections’ latest tally shows the repeal effort trailing by just 45 votes.

According to the Nov. 19 update, the effort to pass Ballot Measure 1 and end ranked choice voting is nearly deadlocked with 49.99% voting to pass the measure and 50.01% voting to keep ranked-choice voting. In raw numbers, the “yes” votes are trailing 157,794 to 157,839.

That’s an improvement from Nov. 18 when the “yes” votes were behind by 192 votes.

The Division of Election says it has approximately 5,800 more ballots to count. This will take place on Nov. 20, the last day for absentee ballots from overseas to show up.

Once the final “unofficial” results are posted, the Division of Election will hold a live broadcast of the ranked choice runoff to determine a whole slate of races in which no candidate earned more than 50% of the vote. The most prominent of these contests is the race between U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola and her Republican challenger Nick Begich.

Special coverage of the 2024 Alaska Ranked Choice Vote Count will be broadcast starting 5 p.m. on Nov. 20 at this link.

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