Away from all the unsettling information about voter suppression legislation in Georgia, Texas and a host of other Republican-led states, Alaska, very little heard of in the news is applying electoral reforms that could help protect democracy. Edward B. Foley had this information in The Washington Post. Here is an excerpt:
Alaska might be next-to-last on lists of states, but it’s first to employ the electoral reform that’s most likely to save democracy.
The state’s new system, which takes effect for this year’s midterms, has two parts. First, there’s a nonpartisan primary in August, with the top four candidates advancing to November. Second, November’s ballot uses ranked-choice voting, which lets voters to rank the four candidates in order of preference. If no candidate has a majority of first-place votes, the candidate with the fewest top-choice votes is eliminated, and their votes are redistributed according to how their supporters ordered their ballots. This continues until one candidate has a majority.
Ranked-choice voting fundamentally changes the competitive process, making it much easier for Sen. Lisa Murkowski, the state’s moderate Republican, to fend off the challenge from opponent Kelly Tshibaka, endorsed by Donald Trump and the Alaska GOP’s leadership. If every state used Alaska’s new system, Trump would be unable to exert his vise-like grip over the GOP. Consequently, Republicans who would prefer not to succumb to Trump’s pressure — but who feel unable to resist given his political pull (Sens. Lindsey Graham and Marco Rubio come to mind) — would be able to maintain their independence.
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