How to Vote in the Ranked Choice Voting General Elections on November 5, 2024
- Rank the candidates you like in order of preference.
- Your favorite is your first choice.
- Ranking other candidates doesn’t affect your first choice.
- When you rank other candidates, you give your vote more power.
How Are Votes Counted in the Ranked Choice Voting General Election?
- If a candidate receives a majority of first-choice votes (50% + 1), they win.
- If no candidate receives a majority, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and voters that ranked that candidate first have their vote counted for their next choice. This process continues until one candidate receives a majority of voter’s choices.
Frequently Asked Questions for Ranked Choice Voting
No. Only one vote counts per race. Your 2nd (or later) choice only matters if your 1st choice fails to get enough votes and is eliminated.
It’s very unlikely that an RCV election will end in a tie. However, if there’s a tie at any step of the process, it will be decided the same as it has been in the past. Alaska law says the tie is resolved “by lot”, which means the division’s director will flip a coin or draw straws.
You can rank as many or as few as you want. Ranking additional candidates ensures that you have a voice in choosing your representative, even if that person is not your 1st choice.
Alaska law allows ballots that are postmarked by Election Day and received within 15 days to be counted. Only 1st choice results will be released until all votes are processed, then reports showing how many votes each candidate had in every round, and how votes were transferred when candidates were eliminated, will be available on the Division of Elections website (elections.alaska.gov).
President/Vice President, U.S. Senators, U.S. Representative, Governor/Lieutenant Governor, and all state representatives and state senators. The open, pick 1 primary will be used for U.S. Senators, U.S. Representative, Governor/Lieutenant Governor, and all state representatives and state senators, but not for President/Vice President.