Politics are heating up in Alaska in a high-stakes showdown over the state’s ranked choice voting system, as a newly certified 2026 ballot initiative will let Alaskans decide whether to keep RCV and open primaries or repeal them and return to party primaries and single-choice general elections.
By Gina Hill | Alaska Headline Living | January 2026
Alaska voters, get ready to weigh in on how your elections work. A voter-led campaign has cleared its biggest hurdle and is now on track to put a high-stakes question on your 2026 general election ballot: Should Alaska keep ranked-choice voting and the open top-four primary system, or scrap them and go back to party primaries and single-choice general elections.
Lieutenant Governor Nancy Dahlstrom has officially certified ballot initiative petition 24ESEG as properly filed, meaning it met every legal and constitutional requirement the state sets for citizen initiatives. The Division of Elections reviewed signatures from across Alaska and confirmed that supporters turned in 42,837 qualified signatures from 40 House districts, comfortably beating the minimum threshold of 34,098 signatures from 30 districts. This moves the idea from a political debate into a real ballot proposition that voters will get to decide in the voting booth.
Here is what that actually means for you. Because the petition is now properly filed, it is slated to appear on the ballot at the first statewide election held at least 120 days after the legislature adjourns its session, unless lawmakers pass a substantially similar law on their own. In practical terms, if the 2026 legislature ends on or before April 20, 2026 and does not pass a lookalike election bill, this initiative will land on the November 3, 2026 general election ballot, right alongside the candidates you already plan to vote on.
At the heart of the initiative is a simple but powerful choice about how Alaska runs its elections. The measure seeks to repeal the current nonpartisan top-four primary system and ranked-choice general elections that voters first used statewide in recent cycles and would restore party-based primaries and the familiar one-choice general election format, while also adjusting some other election procedures and campaign finance rules. Supporters argue this is about “repeal RCV” and returning to what they see as a clearer, more traditional system, while opponents say ranked-choice voting “gives Alaskans more voice” by letting voters rank candidates in the order they prefer, even across party lines so that “if a candidate is eliminated, your vote can still count toward your next choice.”
Former senator Tom Begich is not just weighing in from the sidelines, he is also running for governor as a Democrat in the 2026 race and making ranked choice voting a centerpiece of his case to voters. The political contrast is already sharp. Begich says he is “disappointed to see another effort move forward to repeal Alaska’s ranked choice voting system,” arguing that “Alaskans have been asked this question before, and time and again voters have made their choice” and that “ranked choice voting gives Alaskans more voice.” Representative Sarah Vance, who posted that she is “feeling excited in Homer,” is celebrating that “REPEAL RCV is on the BALLOT for 2026,” reminding her followers, “at your request, I introduced and moved a bill in the 33rd Legislature to repeal Rank Choice Voting,” and promising, “this district opposed RCV and I will certainly represent YOU by voting YES to REPEAL in the November General Election.”
Dahlstrom’s statement in the release underscores how high the stakes are for ordinary citizens. She describes the initiative process as “a vital part of Alaska’s democratic system, enabling citizens to propose and vote on laws directly,” and says that with proper filing complete, “the measure will now move forward to the ballot for voters to decide.” Over the next two years, Alaskans can expect an intense statewide conversation about fairness, simplicity, representation and who benefits from each system.
When you walk into the voting booth in 2026, you will not just pick candidates, you will help decide the rules that will shape Alaska’s elections for years to come.
