Do you think political parties should choose who gets to run for public office when more than half of all registered Alaskans don’t belong to one? Do you think political contributions made by the super-rich and giant corporations should be anonymous? Do you prefer having more extreme candidates from the left and the right instead of candidates more willing to try and find common ground? If your answers are yes to all of the above, then by all means vote to repeal Ranked Choice Voting, RCV. 

RCV opponents claim it’s too complicated, but it is actually very straightforward. After an “open primary” in August where anyone can run for any office, the top four candidates are placed on the general ballot for the November election. You can vote for just your favorite candidate or choose to cast a second, third or fourth place vote for the other people in the race. If no candidate gets a majority of the first-place votes, the candidate with the fewest first-place votes drops out. If the dropped candidate was your first choice, your vote is transferred to your second choice and the ballots are counted again. The process repeats until one candidate receives a majority of the total remaining votes. 

Our candidate options should not be controlled by small, private clubs (political parties) the best representatives are open-minded and willing to consider different perspectives, and elections should not be for sale to unidentified deep pockets. If you agree, vote NO on repealing RCV.

Gershon Cohen