ANCHORAGE, Alaska — An election recount this week confirmed the narrow defeat of a ballot measure to repeal ranked choice voting and open primaries in Alaska.
The statewide recount showed Monday that out of almost 341,000 ballots cast at the Nov. 5 election, the repeal measure failed by 743 votes — a bigger margin than the Alaska Division of Elections certified on Nov. 30.
State election officials came up with a total of six votes that were different from the certified results. The repeal measure failed by a 49.88% to 50.12% margin, according to the final count.
“We are pleased with the outcome, but also feel enormous gratitude to the team at the Division of Elections who worked transparently, and with the utmost integrity, to perform this recount,” said Scott Kendall, an Anchorage attorney who authored the 2020 ballot initiative that implemented ranked choice voting and open primaries in Alaska.
The Alaska Republican Party formally requested the recount Dec. 1, arguing that mistakes may have been made by state election officials in tabulating results.
Stacey Stone, the party’s counsel, also thanked the division staff members for their professionalism in executing the recount for a close race. She said that it was unfortunate Alaska’s election system does not provide certainty for results on Election Day.
“We wanted to confirm every vote counted and we’ve identified ways we can conduct elections better going forward,” she said by text message. “There is always a greater need for transparency and communication particularly when races are this close, and we hope the division will reflect on ways they can provide the public with greater information and certainty in the election process.”
Carmela Warfield, chair of the Alaska Republican Party, did not immediately respond to a request for comment whether the party would seek to challenge the recount results in court.
The recount of the repeal initiative began Dec. 3 and took six days at the Division of Elections’ head office in Juneau.
To conduct the statewide recount, state election officials used high-speed Dominion ballot-scanning machines. Some precincts were chosen at random for a hand recount to check that the machine-count was accurate.
The Alaska Republican Party hired Trump-aligned election attorney Harmeet K. Dhillon to oversee the statewide recount. On Monday, President-elect Donald Trump said on social media that he would nominate Dhillon to serve as assistant attorney general for civil rights at the U.S. Department of Justice.
Attorneys from the San Francisco-based Dhillon Law Group traveled to Juneau, working alongside Stone, to observe the recount
In 2020, Alaska voters narrowly approved ranked choice voting and open primaries through another ballot measure.
Then-Lt. Gov. Kevin Meyer ordered an unprecedented hand recount of the initiative before results were certified. He said at the time that was intended to reassure Alaskans about the accuracy of Alaska’s new Dominion voting machines.
Alaska Division of Elections director Carol Beecher said last week that a full hand count would not be needed this year because the Dominion machines had been proven to be accurate.
Ranked choice voting and open primaries were first used during the 2022 election cycle. The system was used again at the Nov. 5 election.
Proponents spent nearly $15 million this election cycle to oppose the repeal initiative. That was more than 100 times what supporters of the repeal effort spent promoting their cause.
Alaska voters are set to again use the voting method at the 2026 election — unless the Alaska Legislature passes a repeal measure in the meantime.
Philip Izon, the Wasilla resident who launched the unsuccessful repeal initiative, said he would try again to abolish ranked choice voting and open primaries in Alaska.
Izon said by text message Monday that he planned to soon submit an initiative petition to Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom — the first step to get another repeal measure on the 2026 ballot.
