Alaska voters aren't ditching ranked choice voting, top-four primaries
This is the second time Alaskans voted down an effort to repeal the state's unique election system, which voters first approved in 2020. A repeal effort in 2024 also failed narrowly.
Noticia publicada originalmente por NPR — News en npr.org (se abre en una pestaña nueva). Minuto 24 no es autor de este contenido.
Claves de la noticia
- Los votantes de Alaska rechazaron una iniciativa que buscaba derogar su sistema de primarias no partidistas y el voto por elección ordinal, según una proyección de la Associated Press.
- Es la segunda vez que los alaskeños votan en contra de intentar derogar este sistema, que se aprobó por primera vez en 2020; un esfuerzo similar en 2024 también fracasó por poco margen.
- La carrera al Senado de EE. UU. quedó en el centro de la atención: aparecen dos candidatos llamados Dan Sullivan en la papeleta de cuatro candidatos, y la contienda parece encaminarse a un recuento por voto ordinal.
- Los opositores sostienen que el sistema es confuso y manipulable, mientras que sus defensores afirman que el voto ordinal puede atenuar la confusión causada por el nombre repetido.
- Massachusetts decidió este año no adoptar un sistema de primarias de dos candidatos, y en 2024 varios estados rechazaron medidas parecidas.
Contexto
Alaska es uno de los pocos estados de EE. UU. con un sistema de primarias no partidistas, en el que todos los votantes, sin importar su afiliación, participan en la misma papeleta. En California y Washington avanzan a la elección general los dos candidatos más votados; en Alaska, los cuatro primeros. Si ninguno obtiene la mayoría en la elección general, se usa el voto por elección ordinal para decidir al ganador. Por eso el debate sobre el sistema tiene un impacto directo en quién gana cargos federales y estatales. Como el resultado se conoce mediante una proyección de la Associated Press y la carrera final aún debe tabularse, las cifras definitivas pueden cambiar. Fuente: NPR.
Resumen elaborado por Minuto 24 con ayuda de inteligencia artificial a partir de la noticia publicada por NPR — News. Puede contener imprecisiones: ante cualquier duda, consulta la fuente original.
A voter walks into a booth at the Valley Bible Chalet to cast his ballot on Election Day, Nov. 3, in Indian, Alaska. Lindsey Wasson/AP hide caption
A ballot measure that would have repealed Alaska's nonpartisan primary system and ranked choice voting has failed, according to an overnight race call by the Associated Press.
This is the second time Alaskans voted down an effort to repeal the state's unique election system, which voters first approved in 2020. A repeal effort in 2024 also failed narrowly.
This year, though, Alaska's system was under intense nationwide scrutiny, due to the inclusion of two candidates with the same name on the four-person U.S. Senate general election ballot. That race appears likely to move on to a ranked-choice tabulation.
"Alaskans of all political stripes have spoken: They want the freedom to vote for any candidate, regardless of party, in every taxpayer-funded election," Nick Troiano — the executive director of Unite America, a philanthropic venture fund that invests in nonpartisan electoral reform — said in a statement before the AP call. "At a time when most general elections across the country are essentially coronations, the Last Frontier is showing that a better way is possible. It is time to honor the voters' decision and move forward."
Just a few states have nonpartisan primary systems that allow voters of all political affiliations to vote on the same primary ballot. While California and Washington's systems allow the top two vote getters to advance to the general election, Alaska's system allows the top four candidates to move on. Then, if no candidate gets a majority of the general election vote, ranked choice voting is used to determine the winner.
Opponents of Alaska's elections say the current system is confusing and can be manipulated.
Those opponents seized on this year's closely watched Senate race, in which an independent candidate named Dan Sullivan was alleged to be a Democratic-backed spoiler recruited to siphon votes that were meant for the Republican incumbent, also named Dan Sullivan.
Democrats denied recruiting the independent Sullivan, who made the top-four general election ballot and has defended his candidacy.
However, proponents of Alaska's system have said that the state's ranked choice voting system could blunt the effects of any confusion. Voters had the ability to rank both Dan Sullivans and not rank Democrat Mary Peltola, for example.
Massachusetts voters this year decided not to switch to a top-two nonpartisan primary system. And during the last election cycle, in 2024, several states considered measures that would create a nonpartisan system similar to Alaska's. Voters rejected all of those ballot measures.
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