| Letters | Anchorage Daily News |
House Bill 4 attempts to replace Alaska’s ranked choice voting system. This is an insult to the majority of Alaska voters who passed the RCV referendum just three years ago. Worse, this bill would reinstate the old system, which causes so much harm at the national level.
In his July 31, 2023 column, Cal Thomas asked, “Who is to blame for the corrosive nature of today’s politics?” and offered his opinion. “Some blame the media. Others fault politicians. (…) The real blame lies with voters.” He neglects to mention the election system itself.
Greater participation
Furthermore, the system lacks depth. It provides no mechanism to register your second and third choices. This leads to spoiler situations where your vote for an independent candidate probably helps the major party candidate you most strongly oppose. RCV addresses these shortcomings, invites greater participation and shifts some power from the parties back to the voters.
Alaska is trying something with tremendous potential to help the whole country. Let’s give it a few more election cycles and learn better how it works in practice.
— Tom Baring, Fairbanks