The Information Landscape and Voters’ Understanding of Ranked Choice Voting in Alaska

Abstract

In 2020, Alaska voters approved a ballot measure that implemented ranked choice voting (RCV) in statewide elections, state legislative contests, as well as Congressional races. The 2022 election was the first cycle in which voters and election officials experienced voting using RCV rules. This article analyzes election results in Alaska from 2014 through 2022 to assess whether the shift to RCV substantially increased voter confusion. This article also examines the information landscape surrounding the RCV elections, including how Alaskan organizations and newspapers communicated with voters about the new 2022 rules. We use data gathered from newspaper coverage surrounding the election as well as from interviews conducted with organizational stakeholders to understand key messages delivered to the public. Finally, we note that Alaska provides unique opportunities to analyze RCV understanding in minority constituencies. We find that compared with previous elections in Alaska, rates of ballot errors slightly decreased in the first top four primary elections and slightly increased in the RCV general elections of 2022. In general, we do not observe unusually high levels of ballot error in the 2022 Alaska elections. Voters made fuller use of the RCV rules in areas with greater news coverage of the new voting system, and voters seemed to mimic the posture of their preferred candidates toward RCV. We attribute these results in part to the concerted efforts on the part of organizations and election officials to educate voters about the new system.