President Donald Trump on Friday called on Alaska voters to repeal ranked choice voting at the November election.
“The Wonderful People of Alaska desperately want to restore Free, Fair, and Honest Elections in their Great State, and get rid of their disastrous, and very fraudulent, “Ranked-Choice Voting,” Trump said on Truth Social.
An effort to repeal ranked choice voting in 2024 failed by just 737 votes. A separate repeal initiative — sponsored by figures aligned with the Alaska Republican Party, which has promoted the measure — is set to appear on the 2026 general election ballot.
Trump gave his “complete and total support” to supporters of the repeal effort, including U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan and Congressman Nick Begich, both Alaska Republicans running for reelection in November. Trump also expressed his support for Gov. Mike Dunleavy and Alaska GOP Chair Carmela Warfield in his list of “hardworking America First Patriots in Alaska” who are seeking to repeal ranked choice voting.
The president’s post was seized on by Republican candidates for Alaska statewide office who echoed his calls to strike down the voting system.
Many other candidates and elected officials — including Republican U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, Sullivan opponent and Democratic former U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola, and a majority of sitting Alaska legislators — have said they support the state’s current election system.
Alaska voters narrowly approved a ballot measure in 2020 that implemented ranked choice voting for state and congressional elections, alongside open primary elections and tougher campaign finance disclosure requirements.
Ranked-choice voting in Alaska lets voters pick candidates in order of preference rather than choosing just one. If no candidate wins a majority of first-choice votes, the lowest-ranked candidate is eliminated and those votes are redistributed until someone surpasses 50% of votes.
However, the new election system has been controversial. Opponents argue that ranked choice voting is unnecessarily complicated, while supporters say it has led to more moderate and consensus candidates elected.
Ranked voting, open primaries and the tougher campaign finance disclosure requirements would all be struck down if the 2026 ballot measure is approved by a majority of voters.
Alaska for Better Elections is a group running voter education campaigns in support of retaining ranked choice voting and open primaries. Executive Director Juli Lucky said Alaska’s election system has allowed policymakers across the political spectrum to work together without fear of challengers in partisan primaries.
“I think Alaskans will reflect on the results we’ve seen to decide whether our system of open primaries, ranked choice voting, and the strictest campaign finance laws in the country works for them,” Lucky said by text message after Trump’s post. “Ultimately, Alaskans created and enacted this system, and Alaskans will decide whether we keep it.”
Originally published by the Alaska Beacon, an independent, nonpartisan news organization that covers Alaska state government. Additional information about President Trump’s post, as well as supporters and opponents of Alaska’s election system, was added to this story by the Anchorage Daily News.
