Legislature(2023 - 2024)BELTZ 105 (TSBldg)
01/24/2023 03:30 PM Senate STATE AFFAIRS
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| Introductions | |
| Presentation(s): 2022 Elections Recap | |
| Presentation(s): Alaska 2022 Primary Elections Data | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
SENATE STATE AFFAIRS STANDING COMMITTEE
January 24, 2023
3:31 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Senator Scott Kawasaki, Chair
Senator Matt Claman, Vice Chair
Senator Jesse Bjorkman
Senator Bill Wielechowski
Senator Kelly Merrick
MEMBERS ABSENT
All members present
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
PRESENTATION(S): 2022 ELECTIONS RECAP
- HEARD
PRESENTATION(S): ALASKA ELECTIONS 2022
- HEARD
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
No previous action to record
WITNESS REGISTER
JULIE LUCKI, Executive Director
Alaskans for Better Elections
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Presented the 2022 Elections Recap.
SCOTT KENDALL, Attorney
Alaskans for Better Elections
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Answered questions about the 2022 elections.
JEANNETTE LEE, Alaska Research Director
Sightline Institute
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Presented data on the 2022 Alaska statewide
primary elections.
ACTION NARRATIVE
3:31:38 PM
CHAIR SCOTT KAWASAKI called the Senate State Affairs Standing
Committee meeting to order at 3:31 p.m. Present at the call to
order were Senators Wielechowski, Merrick, Bjorkman, and Chair
Kawasaki. Senator Claman arrived during the introductions.
^Introductions
INTRODUCTIONS
3:32:48 PM
CHAIR KAWASAKI asked the members to introduce themselves and
talk about their district and their interest in serving on the
State Affairs Committee.
3:33:25 PM
SENATOR MATT CLAMAN, District H, introduced himself and relayed
that he was privileged to be in the Senate and pleased to serve
on this important committee because of the broad issues it hears
such as elections and access to voting.
3:34:09 PM
SENATOR BILL WIELECHOWSKI, District K, introduced himself and
relayed that he chaired this committee about a decade ago. He
enjoys State Affairs because of the wide and varied issues that
are considered. He expressed particular interest in election
issues, campaign finance issues, good government, and how to
make it work better.
3:34:46 PM
SENATOR KELLY MERRICK, District L, introduced herself and said
she was looking forward to serving on this committee. She was in
the House for four years and served on the Finance Committee but
not on any standing committees. She looks forward to serving on
this committee which will allow earlier participation in the
legislative process.
3:35:15 PM
SENATOR JESSE BJORKMAN, District D, introduced himself and
stated that good government is important to him. He shared that
a large accomplishment when he sat on the Kenai Peninsula
Borough Assembly was to rewrite the borough's election laws to
clarify the processes and assure people that their elections
were safe, secure, and reliable. He was eager to engage in the
discussion about elections and other conversations about state
government so people can maintain the social fabric connection
between themselves as citizens and the government of the great
state of Alaska.
CHAIR SCOTT KAWASAKI, District P advised that the Uniform Rules
of the legislature describe the Senate State Affairs Standing
Committee as follows:
State Affairs (programs and activities of the Office
of the Governor and the Departments of Administration,
Military and Veterans' Affairs, Corrections, and
Public Safety, and programs and activities of the
Department of Transportation and Public Facilities
relating to public facilities)
^PRESENTATION(S): 2022 ELECTIONS RECAP
PRESENTATION(S): 2022 ELECTIONS RECAP
3:37:05 PM
CHAIR KAWASAKI stated that the purpose of the meeting was to
begin a series of discussions about the election cycle last year
and the implementation of Ballot Measure 2. The first
presentation will be a recap of the 2022 elections by Alaskans
for Better Elections. This is the group that worked to pass
Ballot Measure 2 in 2020 and helped to implement the ranked-
choice voting (RCV) process. He listed the individuals available
online to answer questions and welcomed Julie Lucki to the
witness table.
3:38:44 PM
JULIE LUCKI, Executive Director, Alaskans for Better Elections,
Juneau, Alaska, reviewed her professional background and
introduced the individuals who were online and available to
answer technical and legal questions.
MS. LUCKI began by thanking the legislature for funding the
implementation and education process for the 2022 elections. It
made the positive results possible.
3:40:47 PM
MS. LUCKI turned to slide 2 and explained that Ballot Measure 2
passed in 2020. While some dark money provisions were
implemented, the 2022 election saw just two main changes that
applied to all statewide elections. She paraphrased the
following:
What changed in 2022?
All statewide elections now follow the same, two-step
process:
STEP 1: Nonpartisan "final four" Primary. This is referred
to the pick-one primary. The top four vote-getters move
forward.
STEP 2: Ranked Choice Voting General election.
MS. LUCKI explained that the process for the special election
was changed so that the system for all elections would be the
same. This applied to all statewide elections, including the
people that districts send to Juneau and the people who are sent
to Washington, DC. Ranked-choice voting (RCV) would also be used
for the Presidential Election, but not the Primary. The large
difference for RCV is that the top four vote-getters move on to
the general election, regardless of their party affiliation.
MS. LUCKI described the benefits of the Step 1: Nonpartisan
"Final Four" Primary:
BENEFITS:
- All voters have access to all candidates in the publicly
funded primary. There is no more choosing a ballot and
limiting the choices of any voter. In Alaska, 58 percent
of registered voters do not affiliate with any party. RCV
allows them to select the candidates they like in the
different elections, regardless of party affiliation.
Likewise, voters who are in a political party are not
limited to the candidates in their party. Voters are able
to vote for any candidate on the ballot.
- The most competitive candidates proceed to the General
election.
- This creates less of a barrier to entry to Alaska's
citizen legislature because voters can vote for any
candidate on the ballot. This ensures that the candidates
who are the people's choice are the ones that move on.
- All candidates, including independents, start on a level
playing field.
MS. LUCKI emphasized that parties still play an important role
by endorsing and financially supporting candidates. However, RVC
leads to more competition at the general election. She cited an
example from Senate District O that remained a Republican
stronghold after redistricting. In the previous two decades, the
margin for most races in the district was more than 45 percent.
That changed in 2022 and the General election race became very
competitive.
3:45:37 PM
SENATOR CLAMAN asked where District O was located.
MS. LUCKI replied it was Senator Shower's district. She offered
to provide information on other districts that saw similar
changes.
3:46:37 PM
MS. LUCKI reviewed the process for ranked-choice voting in the
General election:
PROCESS:
- Voters rank candidates in order of preference.
- If a candidate receives a majority (50 percent + 1 vote) of
first-choice votes, they win. She noted that some candidates
did receive a majority in the initial count while others went
to tabulation.
- If no candidate receives 50 percent + 1 of first choice votes,
the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and voters
that ranked that candidate as their first choice have their
second choice vote counted for the next round.
- This process continues until two candidates are left and the
one with the most votes wins.
MS. LUCKI relayed that in the 2022 elections, 12 of the 62
elections went to tabulation. The balance (50 candidates) won in
round one. She noted that in the statewide races, the same
constituency elected a variety of winners. No particular party
was favored; people chose the candidate they wanted.
MS. LUCKI reviewed the benefits of ranked-choice voting in the
General election:
BENEFITS
- Voters can express their preference from among all candidates.
- A candidate needs a majority to win.
- This encourages candidates to appeal to a larger
percentage of their constituency.
- The candidates who are elected are more accountable to
their constituents. Voters select the candidates who are
most aligned with their values.
- RCV allows Alaskans to vote their heart without fear of vote-
splitting and contributing to their least favorite candidate
getting elected. Some evidence of this was seen in previous
elections. The three "come from behind" victories in House
District 11 demonstrated how RCV eliminates the spoiler effect
by providing more choices for voters.
MS. LUCKI relayed that one reason that Alaskans for Better
Elections believes that RCV is a voter-centric reform is that it
puts more choices before the voters.
3:49:52 PM
MS. LUCKI stated that the expectation for the 2022 Alaska
elections was that there would be a long period of education and
implementation followed by the first nonpartisan Primary
election in August and finally the first ranked-choice voting in
the November General election.
She said what happened was that the implementation was truncated
and the education was ongoing from January to the November
General election. Much of the education had to occur early so
that voters knew how to fill out the RCV ballot for the special
nonpartisan Primary election in June. This was also the first
statewide all-vote-by-mail election. In August, there was the
combination ballot with the nonpartisan Primary election on one
side of the ballot and the first RVC Special General election on
the other side of the ballot. Those elections were followed by
the ranked-choice voting General election in November.
MS. LUCKI said she highlighted the foregoing to emphasize the
remarkable job Alaskans did in filling out their ballots
correctly and how exemplary the Division of Elections' education
and implementation efforts were. The voters knew how to fill out
their ballots.
3:51:24 PM
MS. LUCKI displayed slide 9 and paraphrased the following:
[Original punctuation provided.]
Alaskans Understand RCV
Despite the challenges and the shortened
education/implementation timeline, in the first RCV
election in August:
• 99.8% of ballots were correctly filled out.
• 73% of voters ranked at least two candidates.
• In exit polling of primary voters:
• 95% had received instructions of RCV.
• 85% stated it was "simple."
• 62% supported the open primary.
• Turnout was the highest in a primary since PFD
Voter Registration was established.
MS. LUCKI stated that there were very low error rates; just 342
ballots were rejected for overvotes. She noted that she would
talk about the errors that weren't related to RCV later in the
presentation. She reiterated that Alaskan voters did a very good
job of filling out the RCV ballots correctly.
3:52:33 PM
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI asked if she had polling data on whether
RCV was confusing because he'd heard people argue that point.
MS. LUCKI answered yes. Of those polled, 85 percent said it
wasn't difficult and the proof was the low error rate. This
showed that the voters understood how to fill out the ballots.
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI asked if there was any polling data to
support or refute the argument that RCV is undemocratic.
MS. LUCKI replied that an exit poll question asked about
competition and close to 60 percent of people polled said the
races were more competitive. She offered to follow up with the
complete exit polling data.
3:54:43 PM
MS. LUCKI displayed slide 10 and paraphrased the following:
[Original punctuation provided.]
Alaskans Understand RCV
In the November election:
• On average, 99.9% of ballots were correctly filled out,
which is on par with traditional, single-choice elections.
• Multiple races and data points showed that voters had a
good understanding of RCV. Voters were more likely to rank:
• In competitive races;
• In races with multiple candidates; and
• When their first choice wasn't favored to win.
MS. LUCKI clarified that the foregoing was not polling data. It
was clear that there was a higher percentage of ranking when
ranking would count. She interpreted that to mean that voters
were sufficiently sophisticated to understand the mechanics of
RCV.
3:55:59 PM
MS. LUCKI displayed slides 11 and 12 and paraphrased the
following:
[Original punctuation provided.]
2022 Alaska Elections - Successes
• More choice for voters:
• A larger, more diverse candidate pool and more
candidates from historically underrepresented
groups.
• Candidates mirrored Alaska: the 48 candidates in
the special primary represented a broad range of
political ideologies from every corner of Alaska.
• RCV didn't favor one party over another: in the
three statewide races, incumbents were favored but
the winners represented different points on the
political spectrum.
• More competition overall:
• Voters polled thought races were more
competitive.
• Competitive races moved to the General, where
more voters participate.
• Vote splitting was prevented and candidates had
majority support: The three "come from behind"
victories show that the system works.
• Alaskan voters are complex and independent. The system
allows them to express that complexity.
MS. LUCKI provided additional data. In the US Senate race,
Republican Buzz Kelley was eliminated first and 893 of his
voters ranked Democrat Patricia Chesbro as their second choice.
In the second round, 2,209 of Patricia Chesbro's voters ranked
Republican Kelly Tshibaka next. The research showed that 18
percent of voters crossed party lines in their top two choices.
She opined that RVC is a voter-centric system that allows voters
to express their preferences. She described RCV as a good and
successful reform.
3:59:13 PM
MS. LUCKI discussed the lessons learned from the 2022 Alaska
elections:
- The statute needs to be amended to align the special election
candidate replacement timeline with the Division of Elections'
(DOE) withdrawal deadlines. She noted that the first RCV only
had three candidates to choose from and that was challenged in
court.
- Alaskans for Better Elections feels the reforms and system
worked fairly well.
- Issuing a sample ballot as part of the education process was
very helpful.
- More research is needed to determine why ballots weren't
counted and to find solutions for:
- The witness/signature errors that invalidated thousands
of absentee and special needs ballots.
- The disenfranchisement of 300 rural village voters
because their ballots were not received by the deadline
and thus were not fully counted.
- The lack of ballot tracking and curing processes.
MS. LUCKI offered to answer questions.
4:02:22 PM
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI asked if anything about the ballot
initiative needed to be improved.
MS. LUCKI deferred to Mr. Kendall.
4:02:48 PM
SCOTT KENDALL, Attorney, Alaskans for Better Elections,
Anchorage, Alaska, stated that the one obvious issue was that
for the special election, the candidate dropout date didn't
align with the candidate replacement date. When nonpartisan Al
Gross dropped out of the race, DOE applied the other deadline in
statute so Republican Tara Sweeny could not replace him on the
ballot. A simple fix would be to amend the election statute to
say that in a special election the candidate dropout and
replacement dates are the same.
CHAIR KAWASAKI asked if there was a specific reason to have the
top four candidates appear on the general election ballot.
MR. KENDALL said he looked at different systems from two to five
candidates. The top two didn't provide enough choice and the top
five seemed to be the natural ceiling. He was leaning toward the
top three candidates for Ballot Measure 2 when some sitting
legislators convinced him that Alaskan elections were more
complicated than many states and of that reason, four candidates
would be the sweet spot. He noted that research has shown that
RCV is likely to fail when there are too many choices.
4:06:57 PM
SENATOR CLAMAN asked Ms. Lucki how many fourth place candidates
in the November General election received more than five percent
of the votes cast.
MS. LUCKI said she would run the calculation and follow up with
the answer.
SENATOR CLAMAN commented that his sense was that not too many
fourth place candidates came close to that number.
CHAIR KAWASAKI thanked Ms. Lucki for the presentation.
^PRESENTATION(S): ALASKA 2022 PRIMARY ELECTIONS DATA
PRESENTATION(S): ALASKA 2022 PRIMARY ELECTIONS DATA
4:08:11 PM
CHAIR KAWASAKI announced a presentation from Sightline Institute
on Alaska 2022 election data from the statewide primaries.
4:08:51 PM
JEANNETTE LEE, Alaska Research Director, Sightline Institute,
Anchorage, Alaska, thanked the legislature and the Division of
Elections for ensuring that the 2022 elections ran smoothly. She
also thanked the State Affairs Committee for the invitation to
review the data.
4:09:15 PM
MS. LEE stated that Sightline Institute ("Sightline") is an
independent, nonpartisan, public policy thinktank that focuses
on Alaska and the Pacific Northwest. She briefly reviewed her
professional career. She explained that Sightline's Democracy
Program evaluates and proposes policy changes that support
diversity and expand voter choices in elections. She said her
research showed that for statewide races in 2022, open primaries
and ranked-choice voting (RCV) appeared to deliver diversity and
choice more effectively than the previous system.
She explained how this was determined. The Sightline team looked
at the overall candidate pool in the statewide primary races for
governor, lieutenant governor, US House, and US Senate and asked
the following questions:
1. Did political diversity increase/decrease?
2. Did significantly more/fewer candidates run for office?
3. How many of the statewide primaries were competitive due to
having more than one candidate?
4. Did more/fewer women run for statewide office?
MS. LEE advised that Sightline gathered this data from 2010-2022
and evaluated whether open primaries and RCV played a
significant role and what other factors were involved.
4:11:58 PM
MS. LEE reviewed the chart on slide 3 which shows that political
diversity increased starting in 2020. Before then there were no
Independent candidates in statewide primaries. In 2018 and
earlier, Alaska had particularly high barriers for candidates
who did not identify as Democrat or Republican. The Alaska
Democratic Party changed its bylaws in 2018 to allow
Independents to run in the primary, and in 2020 Independents
accounted for more than one-quarter of the total of statewide
primary candidates. In 2022, the state's new open primary system
allowed candidates to easily opt out of either major party and
48 percent did so. Independent candidates made up 31 percent of
the pool and the share of Democratic Party candidates decreased
to the lowest level since 2010. The share of third-party and
Republican Party candidate showings was unremarkable compared to
previous years. She summarized that the share of Independent
candidates came closer than in any previous election to
mirroring the independent composition of the majority of the
Alaska electorate. Greater political diversity in the candidate
pool helped increase voters' chances to find candidates that
matched their political values.
4:15:20 PM
SENATOR MERRICK asked if the increase in the number of
candidates that ran for Congress had to do with the passing of
the late Congressman Young or RCV.
MS. LEE said the next slide will address the question.
4:16:06 PM
MS. LEE directed attention to the line graph on slide 4 that
reflects the number of candidates in the primary elections for
governor, lieutenant governor, US House, and US Senate. The
interest in running for the state races saw a slight uptick
while the interest in running for both congressional seats more
than doubled the usual number of participants.
To Senator Merrick's question, she said the absence of a
powerful incumbent in the US House race likely gave more
candidates hope of success, but there could be a variety of
reasons that factor in. Future elections will provide a clearer
picture of whether Alaska can expect larger candidate fields.
4:18:22 PM
MS. LEE turned to the bar graph on slide 5 which shows the
percentage of statewide primary races with more than one
candidate. She pointed out that the races in 2022 were more
competitive than at any time since 2010. Just 4 of the 32 major
party candidates did not have any competition. For third-party
candidates, more uncompetitive statewide primary races were the
norm. She described the statewide primary races as exceedingly
competitive since the return of the open primary. After the
election reform, voters had more choices.
She acknowledged that including Independents on the Democratic
ballot starting in 2020 may have boosted Independent
participation in statewide primaries, as indicated on the first
slide, but this slide shows it failed to improve competition.
For example, in 2020 a single candidate was running unopposed in
the Republican primary for US Senate and only the return of the
open primary in 2022 brought true competition back across all
statewide races.
4:21:13 PM
MS. LEE displayed the pie charts on slide 6 that show the
percentage and count of women candidates in statewide primary
elections from 2010 to 2022. In 2022, nearly one-third of
statewide primary candidates were women. That is the highest
rate in the seven years that were examined. She reported that
research shows that nonprofits advocate for reforms that include
gender parity in politics. They support women. Ranked-choice
elections can help by reducing concerns about vote splitting
between women candidates, incentivize more cooperation, and
lower the financial barriers for all candidates.
MS. LEE stated that in Alaska there were many factors other than
Ballot Measure 2 reforms that may have caused more women to run.
These include issues relating to reproductive rights and the
nationwide trend for women to move into powerful political
roles. In the Alaska primary race for governor last year, eight
of the ten male candidates asked women to run as their
lieutenant governor. She shared her view that this showed a
shift in political culture. She also pointed out that female
participation in Alaska statewide primaries has been erratic
since 2010 which makes it difficult to say whether the election
reform affected women's decision to run.
MS. LEE summarized that with the election reforms, Alaska voters
were unconstrained politically and candidates across the
spectrum won in the statewide races. However, 2022 was just one
election cycle and it will take several more cycles for proof.
She concluded her testimony by sharing that Sightline was
working on an analysis across time of the Alaska legislature
that looks at political diversity, generational representation,
gender, and race to see whether any significant changes occurred
and/or how much the election system had an effect.
4:25:51 PM
CHAIR KAWASAKI thanked Ms. Lee for the presentation.
4:28:03 PM
There being no further business to come before the committee,
Chair Kawasaki adjourned the Senate State Affairs Standing
Committee meeting at 4:28 p.m.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| Senate State Affairs_Sightline_2022 Election PDF.pdf |
SSTA 1/24/2023 3:30:00 PM |
2022 Elections Recap |
| ABE SSTA 2023.01.24 final.pdf |
SSTA 1/24/2023 3:30:00 PM |
2022 Elections Recap Elections |