Tyler Dinucci explains how Alaska decided to run an election, and how it snuffs the ideological extremists:
Measure 2 scrapped Alaska’s partisan primary system and replaced it with a blanket primary, similar (but different) to Washington, Louisiana, and California’s primaries. Every candidate would run on the same ballot in the primary regardless of party. But unlike those states, Measure 2 would then send the top four candidates in the primary to the general election. That general election would then be run under a ranked-choice system, similar to Maine.
Confused? Let me give an example:
In 2010, Lisa Murkowski lost her primary to far-right challenger Joe Miller. She staged an incredible comeback, winning only one of two successful write-in campaigns for Senate in American history. But with Measure 2, she wouldn’t have had a primary to lose. That’s because everyone — Miller, Murkowski, the Democratic candidate and more would’ve all competed on the same ballot in the primary. Joe Miller received 55,878 votes in the primary. Murkowski received 53,872, while the top two Democrats running received 18,035 and 6,913 in their primary. In this system, all four of these people who received the most votes in the primary would have advanced to the general election.
By eliminating the outsize influence of ideological zealots of any brand, moderates have a far better chance of victory – and given the zealots’ tendency towards arrogant hubris, I’ve very often been in favor of moderates.
The blanket primary sounds like a winner.
