A ballot measure that would repeal Alaska’s ranked choice voting and open primary system remains on track to fail, though its margin has shrunk even further, to just 45 votes.
In the latest update Tuesday afternoon from the Division of Elections, “No” on Ballot Measure 2 leads by just 0.02% in a race in which 315,633 votes have been counted to date. Tuesday’s update included 2,050 newly counted votes.
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The new ballots came largely from voters in Southeast Alaska and the Matanuska-Susitna Borough.
“No” took the lead by 192 votes on Monday after trailing since Election Day.
The closely watched ballot measure would replace Alaska’s top-four open primaries and ranked choice general elections with party primaries and single-choice general elections. The No on 2 campaign attracted nearly $14 million in contributions, largely from outside the state, and outspent the Yes on 2 campaign by a 100-to-one margin.
Roughly 5,800 ballots remain to be counted on Wednesday, the final day of counting in Alaska’s elections. It’s also the last day for absentee ballots to arrive from overseas voters. Division of Elections Director Carol Beecher said by email that the remaining ballots will mostly come from voters in Anchorage and rural Alaska.
Election officials will tabulate the ranked choice results in races where no candidate reached 50% of the vote at 5 p.m. Wednesday.
The standings in other races remained unchanged following Tuesday’s update.
Eric Stone covers state government, tracking the Alaska Legislature, state policy and its impact on all Alaskans. Reach him at estone@alaskapublic.org and follow him on X at @eriwinsto. Read more about Eric here.
