Sullivan Claims Victory in Alaska Senate Race Amid Ranked Choice Voting
Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan claims victory in Alaska Senate race despite narrow lead and ranked choice voting system.
2 min read
Republican Senator Dan Sullivan is asserting confidence in his victory in the Alaska Senate race, despite the tight margin and the state’s controversial ranked choice voting system. As vote tabulations continue on Wednesday, Sullivan and Democrat Mary Peltola are currently separated by less than half a percentage point.
Sullivan Campaign Memo Outlines Path to Victory
A Sullivan campaign memo outlines his case for victory, emphasizing that neither candidate is expected to reach 50 percent of the vote, which would require the transfer of votes from the two candidates who cannot win. The memo states that Peltola leads on first choices by 626 votes, but first choices are not the final result.
The memo notes that the 8,404 ballots for the two candidates who cannot win, Gerald Heikes and Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., are eliminated, and their second and third choices are added to the totals of Senator Sullivan and Peltola. Heikes voters who ranked anyone else break for Dan 71% to 29%, and that round decides the race.
The memo concludes that Sen. Sullivan is in position to win despite what the campaign calls “the biggest election cheating scandal in the history of Alaska.” The memo adds that if the ranked choice voting tabulation took place today with the votes currently in hand, Senator Dan Sullivan would defeat Mary Peltola 105,037 to 104,709, a margin of 328 votes.
Ranked Choice Voting and Voter Data Transparency
The Sullivan campaign highlighted that Alaska’s Division of Elections released a voter file with full data for how people ranked candidates, meaning they know who was ranked first, second, and third. The memo states that for these votes, they know what would happen if the ranked choice voting tabulation took place today: Dan wins this election.
The memo also references the unprecedented ballot-stacking scheme by Democrats, which the campaign calls the “election cheating scandal.” The memo states that a liberal activist also named “Dan Sullivan” was put on the ballot, and Peltola was aware of the effort. Washington Democrats also backed a second Republican in the field.
Source: Breitbart
