Less than four months after Alaska voters rejected a ballot measure to repeal Alaska’s ranked choice voting and open primary system, the state’s lieutenant governor has OK’d a new petition-gathering effort to repeal the system.
Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom announced on Monday that she had approved the first step in the process: certifying that the proposed ballot measure was in the proper form. This allows the sponsors to begin gathering signatures.
They will need to collect at least 34,099 signatures of registered voters, including minimum numbers of signatures in at least 30 of the 40 state House districts, to place the measure on the ballot in 2026.
Proponent Bernadette Wilson of Anchorage said it was important to get started early in the 2026 election cycle due to the large number of needed signatures. She is one of three primary sponsors, along with Judy Eledge of Anchorage and Ken McCarty of Eagle River.
Wilson pointed out that the 2024 ballot measure to repeal the voting system lost by a narrow margin — just 737 votes of 320,985 ballots cast.
Wilson said the sponsors feel good about their chances next time, saying that some voters were confused about what a yes or no vote meant on the question. She noted that opponents of repealing the system raised nearly $15 million, compared with roughly $150,000 raised by repeal supporters.
“When you look at that confusion, when you look at the Alaskans who realize, now, ‘Oh my goodness, it was $15 million of outside money,’ and realized that they were duped, I think we could come up with” the number of votes needed to win, Wilson said.
Wilson listed several reasons voters should support repeal, saying that the current system is “convoluted” and contributed to delays in the public knowing the outcomes of some elections.
If placed on the ballot, the measure would be the second approved by Dahlstrom for 2026. She also approved a measure to reimpose limits in political donations. Supporters of that measure said they would like to see the Legislature head off that measure by passing a bill that is substantially similar this year, so that the limits would be in place for 2026.
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