Dueling Alaska ranked choice repeal petitions filed for next election

Two petitions were filed this week in new efforts to repeal ranked choice voting and open primaries in Alaska.

Alaska voters narrowly approved retaining the voting system during the Nov. 5 election. The margin was 743 votes after a recount was requested by the Alaska Republican Party.

The dueling proposed initiatives are similar.

The first petition was filed by Philip Izon, the Wasilla resident who led the signature-gathering campaign for the recently defeated repeal effort.

Izon’s new ballot measure is all but identical to the first one. It would again repeal ranked choice voting and the top-four open primary system Alaska voters narrowly approved four years ago.

The second petition, filed by former Eagle River Republican Rep. Ken McCarty, would also eliminate the voting system. But it would go further.

McCarty’s initiative would repeal a provision intended to combat “dark money” that was also approved by Alaska voters in 2020.

That provision has required greater financial disclosures by groups giving money to state candidates.

In November, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a challenge filed by conservative groups to Alaska’s new campaign disclosure rules.

Both repeal petitions were submitted to the lieutenant governor’s office Dec. 16 — the first step to getting an initiative on the 2026 ballot.

Republican Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom has until Feb. 14 to determine whether the petitions will be certified for signature gathering.

“It is clear that many Alaskans remain concerned about the impact of ranked-choice voting on our electoral process. I respect that these concerns are again being channeled into a legal framework for repeal,” she said Wednesday in a prepared statement.

Dahlstrom said she is working with the Alaska Department of Law to ensure the petitions meet requirements set out in state law. She said the process would be fair and transparent.

If certified, the initiative groups would have a year to collect just over 34,000 signatures from voters across the state.

Initiative petitions require signatures from three sponsors and 100 voters.

McCarty’s petition was signed by two prominent conservatives as sponsors: Bernadette Wilson, interim executive director of the Alaska Policy Forum, and Judy Eledge, president of the Anchorage Republican Women’s Club.

The club posted to social media Wednesday, saying “strong Republican women” would repeal ranked choice voting. The post encouraged supporters not to donate to any other group.

Izon said he had not been told a second repeal effort was being launched. He said that felt like “sabotage.”

The Alaska Republican Party supported the 2024 repeal effort. But Izon said he expected the party would back McCarty’s petition.

“I get along with lots of other states’ GOPs, but the Alaska GOP is not one of them,” he said in a Thursday interview.

McCarty, Wilson and Eledge did not respond to requests for comment.

Carmela Warfield, chair of the Alaska Republican Party, said the party’s state central committee unanimously approved a motion to oppose ranked choice voting in September. Warfield said she signed McCarty’s repeal application in a personal capacity, and believed it would be successful.

“Then, we can do what’s best for Alaska and return to a system of fair elections that all Alaskans — regardless of party affiliation — can be proud of,” she said.

Izon acknowledged that the two signature-gathering efforts could potentially divide supporters and be confusing.

If McCarty’s petition looks more promising, Izon said he would delay his repeal campaign until the 2028 election.

Izon’s petition was also signed by his wife, Diamond Izon, as a sponsor and Lee Hammermeister, a newly registered Democrat.

Hammermeister said that he was inspired to join the repeal effort because he saw voters confused by ranked choice voting.

The Alaska Democratic Party has supported retaining the voting system. The party declined to endorse Hammermeister as he ran against Eagle River GOP Sen. Kelly Merrick.

Ranked choice voting, open primaries and the new campaign disclosure rules were used in both the 2022 and 2024 election cycles.

“Results have proven that the system does not favor any party, it allows voters to more freely express their will and hold their representatives accountable,” said Juli Lucky, executive director of No on 2, the group that favored retaining the voting system.

“Alaskans have spoken on this issue, repeatedly, they want to keep the power of the electoral process where it belongs — with Alaskan voters,” she said.