Circus Party
2022-09-02 00:03:15 UTC
Last night, Democrat Mary Peltola defeated Republican firebrand and
former governor Sarah Palin in Alaskas special election for its
vacant House seat. Palin should have won. But it was Alaskas first
time using ranked-choice voting in an election, and that spelled the
Trump-backed candidates doom.
For those unfamiliar with ranked-choice voting, heres a primer: if a
candidate does not receive a majority i.e., more than 50 percent
of first-place votes, ballots are retabulated, the lowest-vote getter
is eliminated, and their votes go to voters second choice. This
process continues until a candidate clears 50 percent of the vote.
In the first round of voting, Peltola won 40.2 percent of first choice
preferences, followed by Palins 31.1 percent, and Republican Nick
Begich IIIs 28.5 percent. This means 59.6 percent of voters initially
cast their ballot for Republican candidates.
After Begich was eliminated in the second round of tabulation and his
votes reallocated, 50 percent of Begich voters ranked Palin as their
second choice; with 29 percent crossing party lines to vote for Mary
Peltola. 21 percent of his voters chose not to rank a second choice, a
phenomenon otherwise known as ballot exhaustion.
With more than one-fifth of Begichs voters declining to rank a second
candidate, Peltola was given the boost she needed to secure her
3-point victory (51.5 percent of the final vote tally) over Palin
(48.5 percent).
In a state Trump won by 10 points in 2020, Palin should have been a
shoo-in. Peltola will be the first Democrat to hold Alaskas lone
congressional seat since the early 1970s, despite nearly 60 percent of
Alaska voters casting their ballots for a Republican.
Palins loss and such extreme voter disenfranchisement can be
attributed to Alaskas adoption of ranked-choice voting, an electoral
system Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski was instrumental in pushing
through.
According to Project Veritas, Murkowski staffers worked to change
Alaskas primary into a ranked-choice voting system so as to ensure
Murkowski would defeat Trump-endorsed challenger Kelly Tshibaka. And
it worked. After Alaska voters approved Ballot Measure 2 an
initiative that established ranked-choice voting and discarded
multiple party primaries Murkowski beat Tshibaka in the Senate
primary. If not for Ballot Measure 2, Tshibaka wouldve likely
defeated Murkowski in a traditional partisan primary. Come November,
Murkowski will likely beat Tshibaka again all thanks to her efforts
to enshrine ranked-choice voting into law.
In effect, Murkowski just botched her own partys showing in Alaska.
By pushing ranked-choice voting to ensure her own survival and evade
Republican voters ire due to her impeachment vote she
disenfranchised thousands of Alaskans and cost Palin her congressional
seat. Peltola is only heading to Congress because she picked up nearly
30 percent of Begichs votes. Under a traditional first-past-the-post
system (through which most U.S. House races are decided), this would
not have happened.
While Peltola, Palin, and Begich will face off again in the regularly
scheduled general election for the same U.S. House seat this November,
its likely the outcome will be the same all thanks to Murkowski.
https://thefederalist.com/2022/09/01/sarah-palin-should-blame-lisa-murkowski-for-her-special-election-loss/
former governor Sarah Palin in Alaskas special election for its
vacant House seat. Palin should have won. But it was Alaskas first
time using ranked-choice voting in an election, and that spelled the
Trump-backed candidates doom.
For those unfamiliar with ranked-choice voting, heres a primer: if a
candidate does not receive a majority i.e., more than 50 percent
of first-place votes, ballots are retabulated, the lowest-vote getter
is eliminated, and their votes go to voters second choice. This
process continues until a candidate clears 50 percent of the vote.
In the first round of voting, Peltola won 40.2 percent of first choice
preferences, followed by Palins 31.1 percent, and Republican Nick
Begich IIIs 28.5 percent. This means 59.6 percent of voters initially
cast their ballot for Republican candidates.
After Begich was eliminated in the second round of tabulation and his
votes reallocated, 50 percent of Begich voters ranked Palin as their
second choice; with 29 percent crossing party lines to vote for Mary
Peltola. 21 percent of his voters chose not to rank a second choice, a
phenomenon otherwise known as ballot exhaustion.
With more than one-fifth of Begichs voters declining to rank a second
candidate, Peltola was given the boost she needed to secure her
3-point victory (51.5 percent of the final vote tally) over Palin
(48.5 percent).
In a state Trump won by 10 points in 2020, Palin should have been a
shoo-in. Peltola will be the first Democrat to hold Alaskas lone
congressional seat since the early 1970s, despite nearly 60 percent of
Alaska voters casting their ballots for a Republican.
Palins loss and such extreme voter disenfranchisement can be
attributed to Alaskas adoption of ranked-choice voting, an electoral
system Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski was instrumental in pushing
through.
According to Project Veritas, Murkowski staffers worked to change
Alaskas primary into a ranked-choice voting system so as to ensure
Murkowski would defeat Trump-endorsed challenger Kelly Tshibaka. And
it worked. After Alaska voters approved Ballot Measure 2 an
initiative that established ranked-choice voting and discarded
multiple party primaries Murkowski beat Tshibaka in the Senate
primary. If not for Ballot Measure 2, Tshibaka wouldve likely
defeated Murkowski in a traditional partisan primary. Come November,
Murkowski will likely beat Tshibaka again all thanks to her efforts
to enshrine ranked-choice voting into law.
In effect, Murkowski just botched her own partys showing in Alaska.
By pushing ranked-choice voting to ensure her own survival and evade
Republican voters ire due to her impeachment vote she
disenfranchised thousands of Alaskans and cost Palin her congressional
seat. Peltola is only heading to Congress because she picked up nearly
30 percent of Begichs votes. Under a traditional first-past-the-post
system (through which most U.S. House races are decided), this would
not have happened.
While Peltola, Palin, and Begich will face off again in the regularly
scheduled general election for the same U.S. House seat this November,
its likely the outcome will be the same all thanks to Murkowski.
https://thefederalist.com/2022/09/01/sarah-palin-should-blame-lisa-murkowski-for-her-special-election-loss/