ABC 2002: Primary Previews
W A S H I N G T O N, Aug. 27 -- Alaskan voters will decide today whether their state will become the first to adopt Instant Runoff Voting for most federal and state elections, stepping away from winner-take-all election rules that allow candidates with only a plurality of votes to win.
IRV is seen by many progressive and liberal groups as a way to enhance the quality of representative democracy for allegedly marginalized and ghettoized minorities.
Typically, IRV systems ask voters to rank candidates according to preference; if there are six names on the ballot, voters will list their choices accordingly. If no candidate gets more than 50 percent of the No. 1 vote, the candidate getting the fewest number of top votes is eliminated. A recount proceeds, with the second-highest-ranked preference of voters who chose the eliminated candidate counting as their new No. 1 choice. When a candidate gets a majority of top preferences, the recount cycle stops and a winner is declared.
The Center for Voting and Democracy and other national voting reform groups have spent heavily to see Alaska become the first state in the nation to enact IRV. San Francisco, Cambridge, Mass., and several hundred towns across the country have adopted IRV. (Ireland and Australia use an IRV-like procedure as well).
Opponents say the plurality voting system, which allocates one vote per voter, is less confusing and less expensive.
IRV received the endorsement of the Juneau Empire newspaper, and a handful of well-known Democrats and Republicans across the state. But many top elected officials, including Lt. Gov.Ulmer, the top elections official, oppose it. The state Democratic Party and Alaska League of Conservation Voters have mounted expensive campaigns to defeat it on the grounds that it allegedly violates "one person, one vote" principles.
Also today, U.S. Sen. Frank Murkowski, a Republican, and Lt. Gov. Fran Ulmer, a Democrat, are expected to win their respective nominations for governor with ease. If Murkowski gets elected governor in November, he'll be able to appoint his own successor; if he loses; he remains a senator until his term expires in 2004.
Related Stories
ABC News Live