Richards and Kendall debate repealing Alaska's open primary, ranked choice voting and disclosure rules

Alaska voters decide Nov. 3 whether to scrap the state's open primary, ranked choice voting and campaign finance disclosure rules. Two Anchorage attorneys previewed that choice in a Monday debate over Ballot Measure 2. Craig Richards, a former state attorney general, argued for repeal for the Repeal Now campaign. Scott Kendall, prime author of the 2020 ballot measure that created the current system, who has defended it in court, argued against it. Commonwealth North hosted the debate and takes no position. Jon Katchen, a Commonwealth North board member, moderated.

A repeal measure failed in 2024 by 743 votes after a recount, Katchen said.

Richards said the top-four primary can send several candidates from one party into the general election, favoring whichever party fields only one major candidate. He said he would be fine with an open primary that put every party on one ballot; his objection is to sending more than one candidate from the same party to the general. He cited the 2022 special U.S. House election, saying 15,000 ballots "were trashed" before Mary Peltola won by 5,129 votes. He said Tom Begich's exit from the governor's race leaves one Democrat against three Republicans, which he said "just almost guarantees JKT wins," referring to Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins.

Kendall rejected that. "Every vote is tabulated in every round," he said, adding spoilage rates "are at or below what they were before." He noted the 2022 governor's race drew two Republicans, a former Republican and a Democrat, and the Republican won.

Kendall said that if the repeal passes, its return to party primaries would also let the major parties bar undeclared and nonpartisan voters from voting in them. Those voters make up 64 percent of Alaskans and 62 percent of primary turnout, he said. He said the repeal would also undo contribution limits voters restored in August through Ballot Measure 1: "Ballot Measure 2 actually repeals the limits for governor and lieutenant governor candidates, the ones we just passed."

When Kendall asked whether he was hiding that he wants to repeal the disclosure rules, Richards said, "I'm not hiding from it at all." He said he would vote to repeal those rules even on their own, calling them burdensome and one-sided.

The two also sparred over money. Kendall said the only reason Alaskans know Elon Musk and Pennsylvania billionaire Jeff Yass gave to the repeal campaign is the disclosure law it would repeal. Richards said groups tied to Kendall's side route money through a nonprofit and a national PAC in ways that keep donors hard to trace, and pressed Kendall to name his side's largest contributors. Kendall said every donor is disclosed on state reports.

Kendall said a repealed measure cannot be substantially altered for two years, meaning "dark money flows into this state for the next election cycle for sure." An audience member said the state constitution bars repeal for two years but allows amendment anytime. Article XI, Section 6 says so, though the Alaska Supreme Court has held that amendments within those two years cannot be so sweeping that they amount to a repeal.

In the August 2022 special election for U.S. House, the race Richards cited, 14,997 ballots were no longer counted by the final round, including 11,243 exhausted ballots that did not rank either of the two remaining candidates. In the November 2022 regular election for U.S. House, 13,894 ballots were exhausted by the final round.