Early General Election results show central Kenai Peninsula residents favor repealing Alaska’s ranked-choice voting system and clarifying citizen-only voting in state elections.
Results are still preliminary and unofficial. The results so far do not include all absentee and early votes. The Alaska Division of Elections plans to publish more results on Nov. 10 and to certify the election by Nov. 25.
If it passes, Ballot Measure No. 2 would restore party primary elections and end ranked-choice general elections in Alaska. It would also end limits on campaign contributions for gubernatorial tickets and liberalize rules for disclosure in political advertising.
Statewide, early results show Alaskans narrowly defeating the measure, with around 52% of votes in opposition. But the same results reflect a different opinion on the central Kenai Peninsula.
In House District 7, which covers Kenai and Soldotna, roughly two-thirds of votes came down in favor of the measure. A higher proportion of House District 8 voters – about 70% – voted in favor.
John Edwards voted Tuesday in Soldotna. He says ranked-choice voting is confusing for voters.
“I love the concept of it, but I think the implementation is lacking,” he said. “It's just kind of too much back and forth of the whole concept of like, ‘Hey, you get more choices and you get more options and stuff,’ and then people are coming at the other side of it like, ‘I don't want more choices. I just want to be able to walk in and say yes or no.’”
Michael Horton agrees. He says he spent a lot of time thinking about how he’d vote on Ballot Measure No. 2 before ultimately voting in favor. He supports open primaries for giving voters more choices. But doesn’t like ranked-choice voting because he thinks casting a ballot should be simple.
“I was thinking, well, if we repeal it, you can always revisit just the open primary perspective, you know, and I think that that would have got a lot more ground,” he said.
Early election results show central Kenai Peninsula voters in alignment with the rest of the state on citizen-only voting. Ballot Measure 3 would add the word “only” to the section of existing state law that says U.S. citizens can vote in state elections.
The measure is currently passing statewide on a roughly 70-30 margin, and by more on the central Kenai Peninsula – 80-20 in House District 7 and 86-14 in House District 8.
Mike Chenault helped get the proposition on the ballot. He’s a former state lawmaker from Nikiski and celebrated the early results in a statement.
“With the passage of Ballot Measure 3, Alaskans have made it clear that voting in our elections is a right reserved for United States citizens,” he said in a statement.
Closer to home, almost 90% of Kenai Peninsula voters favor term limits for school board members. The change will limit members of the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District’s Board of Education to two consecutive three-year terms. After that, members would need to wait 180 days before running for another full term.
In the city of Kenai, a similar voter margin favors creating a new tax break. The city will offer a $75,000 residential property tax exemption to eligible property owners, who could save more than $300 per year. Early results show city voters coming down 88% in favor.
