I am concerned that the article “How the state’s unique new election system will work” was so unclear as to be misleading. The author stated, " A consensus winner is selected if no one wins more than 50% of the first choice.” This implies that there is some “selector” involved in the process. Not so; it is the voters.
Assume an election for a state tree: alder, birch, cottonwood and spruce. Each voter ranks those trees in order of their preference, assigning Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 4. If no tree gets more than 50% of the No. 1 votes, the lowest ranking tree — cottonwood — is eliminated. Then the ballots that ranked cottonwood No. 1 are re-examined and their No. 2 votes are counted up: so many for alder, so many for birch, so many for spruce. Those totals are added to the first round counts for alder, birch and spruce. If that addition puts one tree over 50%, then there is a winner. If not, the lowest ranking tree is again eliminated, and the second choice of those who voted for that lowest ranking tree is added to the remaining two trees.
In short, the voters make the choices based mathematically on the votes they cast. Math is objective, not a process resolved by “consensus.”
— John Murtagh
Anchorage
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