Alaska voters adopted a new method of electing candidates in 2020, combining an open primary with general ranked-choice voting.

In this election, Ballot Measure 2 asks voters whether they want to make history again by becoming the first state to abandon ranked-choice voting and return to partisan primaries.

The “No on 2” campaign is trying to convince Alaskans to keep what they have by equating open primaries, in which all candidates appear on the same ballot, with freedom.

“We don’t have to pick one ballot and limit our choices,” said Juli Lucky, who is leading No on 2. “We can vote for anyone we want, and we can also vote for people from another party.” So if you want to have a Republican in one race, an independent in one race, and a Democrat in another race, you can do this in our open primaries.”

Alaska's system has been praised nationwide as a way to end hyperpolarized politics and promote bipartisan compromise. And largely from outside sources, No on 2 has raised more than $12 million. It outstrips spending for Yes by 2 times 100 to 1.

Still, there's a good chance the ballot measure will pass because open primaries and ranked-choice voting are unpopular among conservatives in Alaska.

Former Lieutenant Governor Loren Leman, a Republican, argues that parties should be able to close their primaries to voters of a different affiliation.

“Why would someone who is registered as a Democrat vote in the Republican primary to decide who their candidate will run against?” Leman asked on a recent episode of “Alaska Insight.” “What do you think they’re going to do? Keeping someone low or, you know, picking someone who is going to be a weaker candidate.”

While opponents claim that Alaska's voting system was forced on them by outside interests, Anchorage attorney Scott Kendall says he came up with the idea. He said he saw the need for it when he was Gov. Bill Walker's chief of staff and tried to push lawmakers to address the state's financial crisis, among other issues. For two years, Kendall said, he couldn't break lawmakers out of their gridlock.

“They all feared that if they didn’t toe the party line they would be thrown out,” he said. “We have created a system designed for them to be re-elected, but also designed for them to fail at their jobs.”

In 2018, Kendall began thinking about a way to open the area code. He decided on a primary election in which the top four candidates would advance to general. And then he needed a way to narrow the field without creating the spoiler effect in which two candidates from the same party would split the vote and elect a competitor. This is where ranked selection came into play. Then Kendall said he started looking for money to launch a presidential campaign.

“Both within the state, where we’ve had a little bit of success, and outside of the state,” he said. “But the ideas and writing of the measure were all done here in Alaska by Alaskans.”

Alaska and Maine are the only states that have adopted ranked choice voting in all or most state elections, although several cities use this method. In November, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada and Oregon will vote on whether to use ranked-choice voting in future elections. Ten Republican-led states now ban ranked-choice voting.

For many conservatives in Alaska, the problem of ranked-choice voting became clear when it was first used, in the 2022 special election for the U.S. House of Representatives. Democrat Mary Peltola received more first-choice votes than Republicans Sarah Palin and Nick Begich III. But the two Republicans combined received more votes than the individual Democrat.

In theory, ranked-choice voting should have healed this Republican divide. If every Begich voter had put Sarah Palin second, Palin would have won.

But Begich voters chose not to use their ballots in that way.

Instead, barely more than half of Begich voters chose Palin second. Almost a third voted for Peltola in second place. And about a fifth of Begich voters did not choose a second candidate.

So Peltola won. Palin couldn't get enough of the Begich vote to overtake Peltola's lead.

To avoid a repeat, some Republicans pushed the message that voters should “rank the reds” even if they don't like the system. Still, something similar happened in the November 2022 regular election: Peltola received more first-choice votes than the other candidates, and second and third place finishes didn't give Palin enough of a boost to overtake Peltola's lead.

The lesson many Republicans have learned from this is that having two Republican candidates on the general ballot is bad, and that the idea of ​​ranking as a way to avoid a spoiler effect has not caught on.

Leman said ranked selection is not a good tool for that.

“It's confusing. It's complex. It’s confusing for people,” he said.

Proponents of ranked-choice voting say it's so simple that even children can understand it. Lucky points to the low error rate on the 2022 ballots as evidence that the system is not difficult.

One person who has changed his mind is former U.S. Sen. Mark Begich, a Democrat who was initially a leading voice against ranked-choice voting.

“Yes, in 2020 I supported the effort to keep it the way it was, keep our primary, keep the general election and let the parties make the decision,” said Begich, uncle of House candidate Nick Begich III.

The former senator feared, among other things, that the new system could lead to Democratic candidates being excluded from general elections. Now, he said, he believes this encourages candidates to be less polarized and advocate for who they are on the campaign trail.

“I changed my mind and saw that it gives voters a lot more options. And I know there are now efforts to get rid of it. I don’t think that’s a good idea,” he said.

The repeal measure will appear on the ballot as Ballot Measure 2. A yes vote would eliminate open primaries and ranked-choice voting and replace them with single-vote party primaries and general elections. If the vote is no, the system that has been in use since 2022 would be retained.