Alaska’s ranked choice voting system means that determining the winner often takes longer than in most other states. Voters in this system rank the candidates in order from their first preference to their last preference. A candidate must win a majority of first-place votes to win outright without the election going to a runoff. If no one wins a majority, the candidate with the fewest first-place votes is eliminated and their votes are redistributed to the remaining candidates according to their voters’ second preferences. The process continues until one candidate wins a majority of the vote. Alaska adopted the choice ranking system in 2020. Since no one won a majority in the Alaska Senate race, it will proceed to a runoff to determine the winner. Alaska’s lone House race could be completed in one round, but additional rounds may be needed. Here are the Alaska House and Senate races:
Home to a great extent
Rep. Mary Sattler Peltola (D) has represented Alaska’s only congressional district since September after winning a special election to succeed Rep. Don Young (R), who held the seat for nearly 50 years before his death on March. Peltola defeated two Republicans, former vice president and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and Nick Begich, the co-chairman of Young’s 2020 re-election campaign, to win the special election. Peltola, Palin and Begich, along with Republican Tara Sweeney, advanced to the general election after receiving the most votes in a nonpartisan general primary, in which voters can vote for any candidate regardless of party affiliation. The primary was held on the same day as the special election. Sweeney dropped out of the race right after the primary, so Libertarian Chris Bye advanced to the general election. With 80 percent of ballots counted in the general election, Peltola had a clear lead as of Friday with more than 47 percent of the vote, less than 3 points away from victory. Palin was second with 26.6 percent and Begich was third with 24.2 percent. Peltola could be able to win the election in the first round and make additional rounds unnecessary. But whether he prevails in the first round may not be clear until the end of the month. The Alaska Division of Elections website states that early votes cast between the Friday before Election Day and Election Day will be counted seven days after Election Day, which is the following Tuesday. Early votes submitted before the Friday before Election Day were counted on Election Night. Regional election offices can start counting absentees seven days after election day. All absentee ballots must be counted no later than 15 days after the general election. Peltola could be the winner after the votes are tallied, which must be done by Nov. 23, the day before Thanksgiving. If additional rounds are needed, they will be held on the 15th day after the election at the office of the director of elections in Juneau. Peltola will likely have a large lead at the end of the first round even if she doesn’t take the win, so her opponents will need to receive an overwhelming majority of second-place votes to remain in contention to win the match.
Senate race
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R) and Republican Kelly Tshibaka are set to face off in the final round of the Senate race after neither candidate won a majority of votes in the first round. Tshibaka had a narrow lead over Murkowski of about 1.4 percentage points with 80% of the vote counted. As of Friday, Tshibaka won 44.2% of the vote and Murkowski 42.8%. But Murkowski’s allies expect the ranking system will ultimately benefit the incumbent and propel him to the top in the final round. Tshibaka, Murkowski, Democrat Pat Chesbro and Republican Buzz Kelley advanced to the general election after winning the most votes in a nonpartisan, general primary in August. Kelley dropped out of the race in September and endorsed Tshibaka, but remained on the ballot. Police find no powder in ‘suspicious’ files reported by Kari Lake’s campaign office What does ‘CVS’ stand for? Chesbro had less than 10 percent of the vote, while Kelley won about 3 percent as of Friday. Tshibaka, who served as commissioner of the Alaska Department of Administration from 2019 to 2021, received the endorsement of the Alaska Republican Party and former President Trump. Murkowski has been criticized by her own party and the former president for voting to convict Trump in his second impeachment trial for his role in the January 6, 2021 uprising. The process for determining the winner of the Senate race will be the same as for the House race. The winner could be decided by whichever candidate Chesbro voters preferred between Murkowski and Tshibaka.
