Alaska’s new election system and Alaska Natives
Two articles published last month discuss how Alaska indigenous communities are engaging with – and benefiting from – the state’s new election system, which includes ranked choice voting (RCV).
In an op-ed in Alaska’s largest paper, the Anchorage Daily News, author La quen náay Liz Medicine Crow argues that RCV is a great match for Alaska’s independent, innovative and diverse populations.
Open primaries and ranked choice voting have given us the opportunity to elect people who care about our issues, even if they’re not Alaska Native. The elections system that voters established in 2020 makes candidates care about those who are outside of their party affiliations. Open primaries and ranked choice voting deepen our bench as Alaskans and provides more opportunities for Alaska Natives and people of color who now call Alaska home to run for office and get elected.
– La quen náay Liz Medicine Crow
In a Sightline Institute report also published in May, author Jeannette Lee finds that the number of Alaska Natives elected to the State Legislature was the highest in the last eight election cycles. Notably, this group includes two Independent members, “one leaning left and one leaning right.”
However, Lee notes that Native citizens still remain underrepresented in the Legislature, and that more RCV elections will “offer a more complete picture” of how much of 2022’s improvement in representation is attributable to the new system.
History from cities like New York, Minneapolis, and San Francisco show that RCV gives communities of color more power at the polls. Whether you live in a rural or urban area, RCV elections tend to have more candidates running, more competitive races, and policy-driven campaigns – all points made by Alaskan advocates. These factors can help break down some of the barriers facing Alaska Native voters and candidates.
In August 2022, Alaska held its first RCV election to fill the vacancy left by the passing of Republican Rep. Don Young. Along with the notable adoption of the voting method, it was also the first time an Alaska Native – Representative Mary Peltola, a Yup’ik Alaskan – was elected to the United States House of Representatives. Notably, Peltola entered the race as a long-shot candidate, and ran a bipartisan “pro-fish” campaign that focused on local issues and made appeals across the electorate. Peltola was then re-elected in November 2022, with even greater support from Alaskan voters.
As Get Out the Native Vote director Michelle Sparck noted in an Anchorage Daily News op-ed last year:
Alaska Native people represent approximately 22% of Alaska’s statewide population. Our vote is our voice — and if all Native people vote during a normal turnout year, the Native vote has the ability to influence the direction of the state.
RCV can help ensure Native voices are represented in election outcomes, and can influence the direction of the state.
