Alaska’s open primary and ranked choice voting system survived, while Republican U.S. House candidate Nick Begich defeated Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola, according to the unofficial results released on Wednesday.
The Alaska Division of Elections completed the ranked choice tabulations for all nine races in which no candidate received more than 50% of first-preference ballots.
The division is targeting Nov. 30 as the date by which it will certify the results. There will be another tabulation completed then. Until that is completed, the results are unofficial, although unlikely to change.
Any group of 10 voters can ask for a recount on the ballot measure to repeal the ranked choice within five days of the results being certified.
In legislative races, either a candidate or a group of voters can request a recount. The state will pay for the cost of a recount if the margin between the top two results is less than a half-percent of the votes cast. Recounts are only done by request, unless a vote is tied, in which case a recount is automatic.
Begich had claimed victory earlier in the week, but Peltola had not conceded ahead of the tabulation. Peltola was the first Democrat to serve in the state’s sole House seat since 1972, when Begich’s grandfather, a Democrat who was also named Nick Begich, served as Alaska’s sole member of the House. He was elected in 1970 but was presumed to have died in a plane crash two years later.
The younger Begich had 164,117 votes in the final tabulation on Wednesday, more than 8,000 more than Peltola.
Ranked choice measure
The state’s voting system was passed through a ballot measure in 2020 and the state has used the system in the 2022 election and this year.
The system has been controversial since the measure passed, with opponents arguing that ranked choice voting is unnecessarily complicated, while supporters highlighted how the open primary allows all voters to participate equally, regardless of their party affiliation.
While the repeal measure, Ballot Measure 2, was leading in vote counts from Election Day until Monday, the lead evaporated as more early and absentee ballots were counted. The division faced a deadline to finish its count by Wednesday, which was the last day under state law that the division could accept postmarked ballots mailed from abroad.
The final count in the unofficial results had 159,955 in favor and 160,619 opposed, a 664-vote margin.
The leaders of the opposition to the measure celebrated the results. Juli Lucky, executive director of the No on 2 campaign organization, and Lesil McGuire, its chair, released a joint statement:
“We are thrilled that Alaskans from all over the state with diverse views and different backgrounds came together to preserve the system that empowers voters to elect representatives that will put Alaska first,” the statement said.
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