How Ranked-Choice Voting Could Affect Alaska's Senate Race This Fall

Incumbent Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Republican challenger Kelly Tshibaka are leading the top four candidates in the race for U.S. Senate, chosen by voters through the state's recently adopted ranked-choice voting system. NBC News' Mark Murray explains how it might take until December to determine a winner. 

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#Alaska #Murkowski #Elections

[katden]

I sure hope they Murkowski out of there. The way she votes she should run as a democrat.

[sterlingcampbell]

So many ignorant people that simply don't understand what ranked voting is, how it works or how enormously beneficial it is.

Listen... If somebody wants to vote for, say, a Libertarian, but they're afraid their vote will be wasted if that person isn't elected (which if almost always the case with anybody running as something other than republican or democrat) then they are forced to either vote Republican or Democrat, as any voted for a libertarian candidate would be wasted by them not really having a chance of winning, right? Without ranked choice they're forced to either waste a vote, or vote for somebody that isn't really their favorite. Ranked choice allows them to vote for their preferred Libertarian candidate without having to worry about a wasted vote if the candidate is dropped from the race. None of the back up votes matter at all if the libertarian wins. Now...what if the Libertarian doesn't win and is dropped from the race? Without ranked choice it means the vote is wasted. With ranked choice you have the option to have your vote transfered to a secondary preference if any ONLY if your first candidate is dropped.
Ranked choice let's my vote hop from one candidate to another in the event of the first candidate dropping so that my vote isn't wasted. It doesn't create extra votes and it doesn't force you to use ranking if you don't want to.

Let's say I love the libertarian candidate, like the republican candidate and hate the Democratic candidate. Ranked choice let's me rank the Libertarian as first choice but also second choice rank the republican, so if the libertarian drops out, my vote hops to my next favorite so that my vote still helps select a winner that I somewhat like. That's it...and it's still just one single vote. There's literally no downside. Only benefit.

[howard]

If you can't win, change the rules

[modernfabian]

Ranked Voting ✅:
-Would make gerrymandering exceedingly difficult. Because nothing is absolute.
-Give Third parties a chance.(giving more voting options.)
-Eliminates winning presidency by default because split voting.
-There would be no such thing of "throwing away a vote."
-No more run off elections that cost money and everyone's time.

[paulvandal]

Could Ranked Choice Voting be the end of big party control of politics in America? If so it would be great win for the American people. Electing representatives on the basis of intellect, merit, and accomplishments. How refreshing that would be.

[jojo-gypp]

Ranked choice voting shouldn't take months to tally up. The establishment doesn't want us to choice our own representatives. Every election day it is all horse racing chatter for hours and hours never a single explanation of alternative voting such as instant runoff.

[heinzruedi]

Murkowski has always been riding the coattails of Daddy! She’s a disaster for our beloved Alaska and will be out of politics like Liz Cheney!

[mark]

Let’s talk about Ashley Biden‘s diary and how she said Joe would get in the shower with her and make her very very uncomfortable

[jerryskidlsd]

I'm from Maine. Ranked Choice voting works awesome here! Every state should do it!

[tomchristiansen]

How could Murkowski keep getting back in with her voting record? Do people in Alaska pay any attention to how she votes?

[bobguy]

I'm an Alaskan.
I do not like the new ranked choice methodology.
It allows for the possibility of a candidate from a PARTY that is wildly unpopular, to somehow win the seat, if people from the popular PARTY don't rank their intraparty non-preferred candidate as choice number 2.

For example, even if 66% of voters vote for a republican candidate, and only 34% of voters vote for a democrat, the democrat could win the election if exactly 33% of republican voters only vote for 1 republican candidate and 33% of republican voters only vote for the other candidate.

What this does is two fold, it forces voters to vote for a candidate that is from their party, but they don't want to win, or it gives the seat away to a candidate that "shouldn't" win based on the voting preferences of The People of Alaska.

Also the education of how the new voting system works has been nearly non-existent. I, an Alaskan, did not understand how the votes would be tabulated until I was looking directly at the ballot. So for example if you're an anti-trump republican, you might walk in, mark Murkowski, and walk out. If you're a trump republican, you might walk in, mark Tshibaka and walk out. Not understanding that when the ranked choice phase kicks in, you might have given away the seat to a democrat.

Alaska is a unique state in every way. To include that 56.52% of registered voters are UNAFFILIATED with a political party. That said, we only have 1 voice in the House. 1. That voice has been Republican since 1973. Our vote for president has been Republican since 1964. Our history with governors is extremely checkered, often flipping from democrat, to republican, and including a candidate of the "Alaskan Independence" party in 1990 and an independent in 2014.

This new system of voting is sketchy to us. I don't know a single Alaskan that thinks it's a good idea now, now that we've had the chance to vote under it, and see how it affects outcomes. When we had our referendum on it, it was sold to us very differently, and we thought it would be a good choice. Now that we are seeing how it's tabulated, and how it, mathematically on paper, how it could cause a candidate from a party with only 34% of the vote, to defeat two candidates from another party, with 66% of the vote to lose the election, I expect we will be holding another referendum to abolish it in 2024.

[lorijb]

I wouldn't vote for any hatful democrat!!!

[georgelangheinrich]

We all look to Alaska to continue the Rino purge. It's up to you Alaska to save our country. Please vote for Kelly Tshibaka!

[mark]

Let’s talk about Hunter Biden ratting his entire family out lol he had their phones tapped😂😂😂😂

[mark]

6.97 million subscribers you can bet at least half of those are bots if not more lol

[supernamek]

Lisa Murkowski has support among Independent and Moderate voters.

[tonyd]

Rank choice voting's a sham for Alaska. We need devoted out

[trumpie]

The establishment will favor Lisa Murkowski over Kelly. The people will prefer Kelly. Since Lisa Murkowski is a RINO I voted for Kelly . Who do I expect to win in November the establishment. That is the reason they went with ranked voting to give Murkowski the best chance to win. Democrats vote for Murkowski Too many Republicans are running it’s only hurting the party they are splitting the votes.

[ApprenPlayer]

At least there will be a recount in December if agree by the state government.

[russelllindsay]

lets go lisa Murkowski i bet you will win in november