Does Alaska Have a Solution for Our National Political Dysfunction?
A new study by our organization, the Unite America Institute, suggests a state-based solution to the nationwide problem of uncompetitive elections, not only for Congress but for every elective office. Under Alaska s new nonpartisan primary system, all candidates, regardless of party, appear on a unified ballot. The top four finishers then advance to the general election, which is decided by an instant runoff also known as ranked-choice voting.
After one election cycle using Alaska s new electoral system, it appears to have dramatically intensified competition. In 2022, just 12 percent of general elections for the state Legislature were uncontested half of the previous decade s average. Meanwhile, the share of close general elections decided by 10 percentage points or less nearly doubled, from an average of 17 percent over the prior decade to 30 percent. Imagine how the U.S. House of Representatives would be different if elections were more competitive and gave a true majority of voters more power to hold their leaders accountable.Alaska s general elections were more dynamic even in cases where the winner triumphed by a larger margin. Same-party competition occurred in half of general elections meaning either multiple Democrats or multiple Republicans ran against each other, and often against other candidates as well.
This might be baloney–I don’t know. But maybe we should try it out in a real state. I love Alaska, but it’s both more and less than everywhere else.