Get Even More Visitors To Your Blog, Upgrade To A Business Listing >>

AK Supreme Court To Decide Legality Of RCV System Ahead of 2022 Election


Opponents of Alaska’s New Ranked-Choice-Voting (RCV) system, having Lost a Lawsuit in Superior Court, are now Appealing to the State Supreme Court.

Alaska’s High Court has accepted the Appeal under an Accelerated Timeline that will have Justices hear Arguments Jan. 18th. The Justices are expected to issue a Summary Decision shortly afterward, and that Decision will determine how Alaska will conduct its Statewide Elections in 2022.

Last year, 50.6% of participating Alaska Voters Approved Ballot Measure 2, which Significantly Changes how Alaska conducts State Elections.

Attorney Ken Jacobus (R), is representing himself, the Alaskan Independence Party, and Libertarian Candidate Scott Kohlhaas, in a Legal effort to Overturn that Result, arguing that it is impossible to Implement the Measure in a way that follows the Alaska Constitution and US Constitution. “We’re trying to set aside the whole thing,” he said.

Defending against the Suit are the State of Alaska, which is in charge of Implementing the Measure, and Alaskans for Better Elections, successor to the Organization that Campaigned in Favor of the Measure.

Under the New Ballot Measure 2 System, All Candidates for a particular Office, regardless of Party, will run against One another in the August Primary. Candidates for Governor and Lieutenant Governor, are paired together on a Single Ticket as Running Mates. Voters pick One Candidate or Ticket for each Office, and the Top Four Vote-Getters advance to the General Election in November. In that General Election, Voters will be asked to Rank the Candidates in Order of Preference, Nos. 1 through 4. A Write-In Spot offers a Fifth choice.

If One Candidate gets more than Half of the First-Choice Ballots, Wins the Election. If None of the Candidates reach that mark, the Candidate with the Fewest First-Choice Ballots is Eliminated. Voters who picked that Candidate First will instead have their Ballots go to their Second Choices, and the Total is Recounted. If a Candidate then has more than Half of the Votes, that Person Wins. If not, the Process continues until there are only Two Candidates left, and the Person with the Most Votes Wins.

Jacobus said he believes the Top-Four Primary is a Mistake, and intends to argue that it Restricts Political Parties, and because Political Parties are how Alaskans associate Politically, it thus Represents an Unconstitutional Restriction on the Right of Free Association. Under the Election System used in 2020 and before, only One Candidate from each Party could Advance from the Primary to the General Election. Now, Multiple Candidates from the Same Party could Advance.

The Lawsuit is being Supported by the Alaskan Independence Party, whose Chairman, Bob Bird, is a Plaintiff. Libertarian Scott Kohlhaas is also a Plaintiff, but the Alaska Libertarian Party Supports RCV.

Attorney Scott Kendall, served as former Governor Bill Walker’s Chief-of-Staff, wrote much of the Measure and is now Defending it in Court on behalf of Alaskans for Better Elections, said Ballot Measure 2 was written with the Constitution in mind and will be Upheld. “Judge Miller’s decision was well-supported in the law,” he said, referring to the Lower-Court Verdict. “I think people saw that in the briefing, and then the argument and the order. And we certainly believe we’re gonna get the same outcome at the state Supreme Court,” he said.

“I expect if the system is run well and run according to the rules, that challenge will fail, because these are permissible constitutional procedures to run an election by, whether you like them or you don’t like them,” he said.










NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker


    
 
 


This post first appeared on The Independent View, please read the originial post: here

Share the post

AK Supreme Court To Decide Legality Of RCV System Ahead of 2022 Election

×

Subscribe to The Independent View

Get updates delivered right to your inbox!

Thank you for your subscription

×