Alaska will hold its primary election on August 18, but for most of the races, Ranked Choice Voting has rendered this election virtually meaningless, which will cause voter apathy, resulting in a low turnout for the primary and hurting the candidates in close contests. What is even worse, rich political interests are attempting to subvert the election system and essentially buy the governorship of our state. All this because Alaska uses the Ranked Choice Voting system and allows unlimited campaign contributions to local candidates.
The first challenge to this year’s primary election is that voter apathy may occur because the primary is largely meaningless for most races. RCV allows the top four candidates in each race to advance to the general election. Of the 53 races in the 2026 election, 45 of them have four or fewer entrants; all candidates in these races will advance, regardless of the primary election results. Voters know their vote won’t matter in those races, which may cause many to choose not to vote.
The two Democrats remaining in the race have both received massive funding from individuals that would be illegal in a federal election campaign.
Ironically, while the primary will have no impact for the vast majority of races, the three most critical ones, those for governor, U.S. Senator, and U.S. Representative, all have the opposite problem. At least 15 candidates are running for each of these contests. That, combined with a low-turnout election, will mean the top four candidates will advance with exceptionally low vote totals.
When you add in the fact that there are no limits on campaign contributions for elections to state offices, you have the perfect recipe for the manipulation of the election. Politicians need money to run for office, and with no limits on donations, rich and powerful individuals could have an outsized impact on who wins. This is exactly what is happening in the race for governor. Political interests appear to be trying to buy the governor’s election for Democratic candidates.
The two Democrats remaining in the race have both received massive funding from individuals that would be illegal in a federal election campaign. Unlike federal election law, which limits donations to a candidate to $3,500, Alaska has no such campaign donation limits for elections to state office.
According to a report in the Anchorage Daily News, influential people are taking advantage of that loophole to give outsized donations to the Democrats. Tom Begich, the current leading Democratic candidate, has received contributions from wealthy Alaskans, with his top contributor being Justin Weaver from Anchorage, who gave Begich $250,000 recently. That amount would land Mr. Weaver in jail if he willfully attempted to give it to Mary Peltola, or anyone else running for federal office, but is perfectly legal if he gives it to someone running for govern
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As bad as Tom Begich’s political patronage is, he has been outdone by his Democrat opponent, Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins, an individual nobody outside of Sitka has ever heard of before. Kreiss-Tomkins has been thrust into the Alaskan political spotlight, gaining a surprising following, given his modest political experience. Perhaps the reason for his success is that Kreiss-Tomkins captured the eye of Anthropic, a California company specializing in Artificial Intelligence. Six employees of Anthropic have donated a total of $372,000 to the Kreiss-Tomkins campaign. It is a mystery why an AI company in California would try to influence an election here in Alaska. One explanation might be that Anthropic is looking for political influence to help it build data centers here in Alaska.
Our election system is based on the premise of one person, one vote. Unfortunately, current election law in Alaska disenfranchises the average voter while giving rich, influential people an outsized influence over the candidates. This subverts the intent of our founders, who created a democratic republic where all men are created equal and should have equal rights under the law.
If the Democrat candidates exceed expectations in the primary election simply because they have rich friends, it proves how broken our election system really is. My father-in-law used to say that politics in Alaska is the most corrupt in the entire country. I am starting to understand what he meant.
The views expressed here are those of Greg Sarber. Read more Sarber posts at his Seward’s Folly substack.
Editor’s note: Early voting opens statewide on Aug. 3, and Aug. 8 is the last day to request an absentee ballot by mail. Aug. 18 is Primary Election Day. Click here to request an absentee ballot. Click here to view sample ballots for the Aug. 18 primary. Click here to find out which House District you live in, which will determine your primary ballot.
13 Comments
Yep, meaningless. You should stay home and don’t vote.
I agree. Let the voters continue to make poor decisions of electing the parasites into office. I shall not vote and will place the responsibility of the collapse of the USA solely on the shoulders of the voters. I shall watch as a non voter with a clear conscience knowing I had nothing to do with the downfall of this nation. Good luck voters, for the parasites at the top (Republicans) and the parasites at the bottom (Democrats) all work together to give your tax dollars and power to their blackmailers on Lil St James Island.
In the image heading this article replace “The Final Candidate You Didn’t Choose” with Lisa Murkowski and Rank Choice Voting. We all know if we didn’t have Rank Choice Voting Lisa Murkowski would be acting like a Republican and not a Democrat. Lisa doesn’t want the SAVE act to get voted on because she believes, and banks on a fraudulent elections. We have her and her buddies from the Deep State to thank for foisting Rank Choice Voting on the Alaskan populist.
Yes, Lisa would have lost in a regular election. RCV is just cheating..
That’s why we need to vote yes on prop #2, this election to end RCV.
So when sleazy Lisa runs again in 2028. She can’t cheat and the Alaska republican party won’t support her either.
Yes, Lisa would have lost in a regular election. RCV is just cheating..
That’s why we need to vote yes on prop #2, this election to end RCV. So when Lisa runs again in 2028. She can’t cheat and the Alaska republican party won’t support her either.
I think she’s lost enough goodwill from democrat voters voting for the BBB to go away for good next election. Fingers crossed!
Duane. Right that pissed me off. But she votes and speaks well sometimes too. At best she’s a centrist.
The problem here Greg is if we limit donations for individual candidates it will also help Democrats who have an unlimited amounts of money that come through unions, independent expenditures, etc. I assure you Ballot Measure 1 is not good for conservatives. Kendall wants to limit those contributions so he can get all the union money to flow. I think there will be a good turnout for the primary. With 17 candidate and their supporters going to vote it should be above average. My concern is the general election where people whose candidates don’t win, will not vote in November and could affect outcome of getting rid of RCV.
It’s kind of hard to fight communists er- democrats, when they have a uber rich Swiss uncle pouring money into their coffers.
In the primary, RCV will not be used. Only in the general.
RCV is against the Constitution which states one person gets one vote. With RCV one person gets three votes and the highest vote getter does not win. The Judge knows this. When Scott Kendall did a lousy job of arguing why we should have RCV. The judge just automatically granted it. Kendall is a lawyer hired by Murkowski. Many of us seniors do not understand how RCV works, which means they may or may not vote. I am a senior and have talked with other seniors and if they do not understand, they will not vote. The initiative that has been put in the primary by legislators is meant to limit private citizens like you and our ability to donate to our candidates but NGOs have their ways of getting around the limitations the Marxist legislators want private citizens to have while allowing them ways to get around limits. Pray that truth will win and not sneaky money laundering schemes.
“Our Democracy”
Effectively pitting We The People against each other since 1787.
It really does not seem to matter which party you choose, for some how and some way your tax dollars will find themselves in the gentle loving care of the Epstein/Maxwell parasite class.
This is hysterical…blaming ranked choice voting for a poor turnout. I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before Biden is blamed.