Fact Sheet: Alaska's 2026 ranked choice voting elections
October 13, 2026 – President Trump visited Alaska today, to campaign for Senator Dan Sullivan in the state’s tossup U.S. Senate race. Alaska will again use ranked choice voting (RCV) for all federal and state general elections – including its highly competitive races for Senate, governor, and U.S. House. Alaska will also vote once again on whether to keep the state’s “Top Four” system combining open primaries and RCV, after passing it in 2020 and defeating a repeal attempt in 2024.
84% of Alaska voters say that ranked choice voting is simple. Since Alaska implemented RCV and open primaries, the state’s legislature has been led by a cross-partisan coalition including Republicans, Democrats, and independents. Candidates need majority support to win, and election results are transparent and more representative; Alaska’s elections have also become more competitive.
FairVote has studied ranked choice voting since 1992. We offers these guides to Alaska’s elections, and the additional data and analysis below:
- What to expect in Alaska’s 2026 ranked choice voting elections
- When should we expect results in Alaska’s ranked choice voting elections?
1. Alaska voters use the opportunity to rank their ballots, and rank when it matters. Our analysis shows that Alaska voters rank multiple candidates – especially in competitive races, races with multiple ideologically similar candidates, or when their first choice is not a frontrunner. Voters who rank only one candidate say it’s because they like only that candidate. In other words, voters rank when it matters.
For example, in Alaska’s competitive 2022 U.S. House race, 67% of voters ranked two or more candidates. There were two Republicans (Nick Begich and Sarah Palin) and one Democrat (Mary Peltola) on the ballot; Begich and Palin voters were both more likely to rank multiple candidates than Peltola voters.
2. Ranked choice voting addresses partisan gaming head-on. Voters get more choices without fear of splitting the vote – whether that’s the “two Dan Sullivans” in the Senate race, or multiple Republicans in the governor’s race. Some have expressed concern that teacher Dan J. Sullivan could “siphon” votes from incumbent Senator Dan S. Sullivan.
This type of gamesmanship exists in any election system, but RCV makes it much less effective. With RCV, any small number of voters uncertain about the “Dan Sullivans” can rank both candidates on their ballot, and their vote will count for the stronger candidate (extremely likely to be Senator Sullivan).
In the gubernatorial race, Republican gubernatorial candidates Treg Taylor and Dave Bronson have released a joint campaign video encouraging Republicans to rank all three Republican candidates. In 2022, Alaska Republican voters successfully used a “rank the red” strategy to win two State House seats with multiple Republican candidates and one Democrat.
3. Alaska accepts absentee ballots for 15 days after the election, due to its size and need to transport ballots from rural areas. In close races, we may not know winners for 15 days following the election. That timeline is set by the Alaska Division of Elections and state law, and long preceded RCV. In 2024, it took the full 15-day period to declare the winner of a “Yes/No” ballot measure.
In previous election cycles, Alaska has only reported first-choice results (not round-by-round RCV results) within this 15-day absentee ballot window. The state has conducted its RCV tally at the end of this period, which will be November 18 this year. The actual RCV tally takes about one minute per race.
Nationally, about 80% of places using RCV release round-by-round results within 24 hours of polls closing. A new article from former Alaska state elections director Gail Feniumiai explains why RCV is not responsible for Alaska’s election delays, and also encourages the state to release preliminary round-by-round results more quickly.
Additional Resources:
- FairVote:
- Alaska former elections director Gail Feniumiai: Want faster elections? Modernize Alaska’s vote count.
- Fmr. Alaska governor candidates Lesil McGuire (R) and Tom Begich (D): Alaska’s election system worked even when it didn’t work for us
- Anchorage Daily News: Vote no on Ballot Measure 2
- State Sen. Cathy Giessel (R), Rep. Bryce Edgmon (I), Rep. Ky Holland (N), Rep. Zack Fields (D): We govern across the aisle. Alaska’s open primary makes it possible.
- Sightline Institute:
- Unite America: Alaska’s election model
- R Street Institute: Evaluating the Effects of the Top-Four System in Alaska
- Scott Kendall: Courage and open primaries allowed the override of Gov. Dunleavy’s education funding veto
- Glenn Wright, David Lublin and Benjamin Reilly in the Journal of Political Institutions and Political Economy: Assessing Alaska’s Top-4 Primary and Ranked Choice Voting Electoral Reform
###
FairVote is a nonpartisan organization seeking better elections for all. We research and advance voting reforms that make democracy more functional and representative for every American.
