ALASKA VOTERS PASS RANKED CHOICE VOTING BUT SIMULTANEOUSLY INJURE BALLOT ACCESS
On November 3, Alaska voters passed Measure Two with 50.55% of the vote. It converts elections for partisan office, including president, to ranked choice voting. Unfortunately it also vastly stiffens the definition of a qualified party . And it restricts the November ballot for congress and partisan state office to only the top four vote-getters in the primary. Past election returns indicate that for elections for Governor and Congress, this will mean only Republicans and Democrats qualify for the November ballot.
Political Party Definition
The old Alaska law lets a group become a qualified party, or keep its party status, two ways.
Recently, each stateâs members of the 538 who make up the Electoral College officially voted in their individual states their choices for president and vice president.
The votes were certified on Monday, Dec.14: Democrat Joe Biden 306, to Republican President Donald Trumpâs 232.
That caused Republican Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell to recognize on the Senate floor the next morning that Democratic former Vice-President Joe Biden will indeed become president on Jan. 20.
âThe electoral college has spoken,â McConnell said, adding, âToday I want to congratulate President-elect Joe Biden.âÂ
That replaces the descriptive refuge of âformer Vice-President,â which many Republican office-holders have used, trying to stay on President Trumpâs âgood side,â wherever that is these days.
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Sean Parnell
A bill that would strip Virginians of the ability to decide who our stateâs presidential electors vote for when the Electoral College meets almost is certain to be reintroduced in 2021 after passing the House of Delegates but failing earlier this year in the state Senate.
If passed, the National Popular Vote interstate compact (NPV) would require our stateâs 13 electors to support the candidate deemed to have received the most votes nationally, even if that candidate lost Virginia or wasnât even on the ballot here.
The billâs proponents say that, in a democracy, the only thing that matters is majority (or at least plurality) rule. Looking at the Electoral College, they see a violation of the âone person, one voteâ principle and seek to replace it with direct election of the president. âOne person, one voteâ is an important democratic value; however, itâs not the only one.