For Immediate Release: August 1, 2022
Media Contacts:
Jeannette Lee, Sightline Institute, Senior Researcher & Alaska Lead
jeannette@sightline.org, Twitter @JLee907
ANCHORAGE, AK – Ranked choice voting gets its Alaskan debut this month with the special general election. The same ballot will hold both the regular midterm primary election and special general election. The winner of the special general election will temporarily fill the US House seat of the late Representative Don Young.
This election season marks the first year that Alaska voters will use a combination of pick-one open primaries and ranked choice general elections to choose their lawmakers. When combined, the two voting reforms promise to help tamp down extreme partisanship and encourage cooperation between candidates, as Jeannette Lee describes in her recent article, “In Alaska’s Special Election, a Bipartisan Mindset Makes Sense.” Ranked choice voting also lets voters opt for their true favorites rather than candidates they merely tolerate.
Sightline Institute has developed a list of answers to the top questions we have been hearing about Alaska’s August 16, 2022 primary and general elections in “August 16 Is a Big Day for Alaska Voters.” Frequently asked questions (FAQs) include the following:
- General info on Alaska’s August 2022 elections
- Candidate information
- How to cast a ballot in Alaska’s August 2022 elections
Sightline Institute is also producing and sharing free voter education resources for Alaska at sightline.org/AlaskaVote, including:
- Free use graphics, coproduced with Native Peoples Action, of
- Key dates for the special and regular elections
- Mock primary and general ballots
- Map of regional election offices
- Recent articles detailing the new system’s impacts for local electeds and creative voter education opportunities
Available for interview: Jeannette Lee, Sightline Institute’s senior researcher and Alaska lead, focuses on democracy and housing issues from Sightline’s office in Anchorage, Alaska. Prior to Sightline, she served as a consultant at the Adaptation Fund and United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, a federal natural gas researcher, and a journalist for The Associated Press in Alaska and Hawai`i and Atlantic Media Company in Washington, DC. Find her research here, and connect with her by email and on Twitter.
About Sightline Institute: Sightline Institute is an independent, nonprofit think tank transforming Cascadia into a global model of sustainability and publishing leading original analysis of housing, democracy, and energy policies.
