Seven hundred thirty-seven. Write that number on a sticky note and you’ve got the entire reason ranked-choice voting still exists in Alaska today. Out of 321,000 ballots cast in 2024, that’s the razor-thin gap that kept the repeal effort from succeeding. Elections rarely come down to numbers that small learn more.
Turns out close doesn’t mean over. Ballot Measure 2 lands on Alaskan ballots again this November, pushed by Repeal Now under the campaign name Yes End RCV. The mission hasn’t budged an inch: eliminate ranked-choice voting, reinstate closed party primaries, and let the candidate with the most votes take the seat, no ranking rounds required.
None of this came together overnight. Repeal Now spent 2025 knocking on doors and gathering names, landing more than 34,000 signatures. Once the state finished verifying, that number climbed past 42,000, comfortably clearing what’s needed to make the ballot. Doing that across a state where some towns aren’t reachable by road takes actual grit.
Their central complaint boils down to trust. Ranked-choice voting, the campaign insists, opened a lane for well-funded consultants to steer outcomes in ways average voters never signed up for. People cast their ballot, they argue, then watch it get reassigned through elimination rounds until the final tally barely reflects their original pick. Before 2020, the system was blunt but honest: most votes, one winner, no asterisks.
Follow the money and the picture gets interesting. Aurora Action Network, tied to Elon Musk, wired a seven-figure donation to Repeal Now this year. Rewind two years, though, and RCV’s supporters spent almost $15 million defending the system in 2024 — a financial mismatch the repeal side nearly overcame anyway.
RCV’s backers reject the idea that the system is rigged against ordinary voters. They cite research showing it rewards candidates who reach beyond their base, which tends to mean calmer campaigns and winners with broader support. Mary Peltola’s likable, low-drama win in the 2022 special election gets referenced constantly as evidence the format can produce exactly that kind of outcome.