| Shawn Griffiths | Independent Voter News |
A new report from the McKinley Research Group (MRG) finds that Alaskans are generally satisfied with their new nonpartisan voting system. Not only is it simple, but they also have more confidence in their choices and that their votes matter more than in previous years.
In 2020, a majority of Alaskan voters approved a complete overhaul to how the state elects its public officials. They changed the closed primary system to a nonpartisan top-4 primary, in which all voters and candidates (regardless of party) participate on a single primary ballot and the top 4 vote-getters move on to the general election.
”85% percent of voters said it was simple
Voters also adopted ranked choice voting (RCV) for the general election so the winner of a 4-person race would not be determined by a plurality, but a majority of voters while sparing taxpayers the additional costs of a runoff election.
According to the MRG study, RCV education reached nearly all voters in August and November during the congressional special election and general elections, respectively. Eighty-five (85%) percent of voters in August said “it was simple or somewhat simple to vote [with] their RCV ballot”
