By SUZANNE DOWNING
Sept. 9, 2026 – The Alaska Public Offices Commission has rejected the central argument advanced by Alaskans for Better Elections in two campaign-finance complaints targeting the effort to repeal ranked-choice voting. APOC imposed modest penalties against Repeal Now for some extremely minor reporting errors.
In a 32-page final order dated Sept. 8, the commission ruled that Aurora Action Network, the principal financial supporter of Repeal Now, may properly identify Anchorage as its principal place of business. APOC rejected the ABE argument that Repeal Now must replace Aurora Action Network with the names of Aurora’s underlying donors in the “paid for by” disclaimer on its campaign advertising.
Those were the most politically significant questions raised by Alaskans for Better Elections, the group defending Alaska’s ranked-choice voting system. Attorney Scott Kendall, a leading architect and defender of that system, represents the group in the proceedings.
The commission found some small reporting errors and imposed a $471.25 civil penalty against Repeal Now. Aurora Action Network was fined $1,250 over the handling of a $5,000 contribution. Advancing Alaska Action, another organization named in the complaints, was found to have committed no violation.
The ruling arrives as the two sides prepare for the November election. Ballot Measure 2 asks voters whether Alaska should repeal the open top-four primary and ranked-choice general election system. A “yes” vote repeals ranked-choice voting and restores partisan primaries and traditional general elections.
Alaskans for Better Elections filed the first complaint May 28 and a second complaint July 7. The cases were consolidated and heard by the commission Aug. 26.
The group’s most serious allegation was that Aurora Action Network and Repeal Now had improperly shifted Aurora’s listed address from Wisconsin to Anchorage to disguise the campaign’s reliance on Outside money.
Aurora was organized as a federal super PAC in June 2025 and originally used the Wisconsin address of Thomas Datwyler, whom the commission described as a “treasurer-for-hire” responsible for bookkeeping and compliance filings.
In April 2026, Aurora changed its Federal Election Commission address to the Anchorage residence of Alaska activist Bob Griffin.
Alaskans for Better Elections contended that the change allowed Repeal Now’s advertising to make Aurora an Alaska-based contributor even though much of Aurora’s money came from donors outside the state. The order noted that Pennsylvania billionaire Jeff Yass had been Aurora’s largest donor before Elon Musk contributed $1.5 million to the organization.
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But APOC declined to treat the location of Aurora’s hired treasurer, bank accounts or donors as controlling. Instead, the commission adopted a “totality of the circumstances” test that considers where an organization’s decisions are made, where its officers and directors live, and where its political activity takes place. In other words, all this is common practice perfected by the Left. If APOC went after Repeal Now, it would open up a can of worms.
The commission found that Aurora is led by Alaska residents Bethany Marcum and Griffin, that its major decisions are made in Anchorage, and that its political activity is focused entirely on Alaska. Repeal Now is the only organization to which Aurora has contributed.
“The only connection to Wisconsin is that Datwyler and some bank accounts were located there,” the commission concluded.
APOC therefore ruled that Anchorage is Aurora’s principal place of business and that neither Aurora nor Repeal Now violated the law by using an Anchorage address.
This is an important political victory for the repeal campaign because it undercuts the claim that Aurora’s Alaska address was fraudulent. It does not change the fact that Aurora has received substantial money from wealthy donors outside Alaska, but it means APOC did not accept the argument that the organization was legally required to call Wisconsin its principal place of business.
The commission also sided with Repeal Now on how its largest contributors must be displayed in campaign disclaimers.
Alaskans for Better Elections argued that the disclaimer should reach through Aurora and name Aurora’s underlying “true source” donors. APOC rejected that interpretation, saying it would potentially require campaigns to display the names of relatively unknown individuals rather than the organization that actually made the contribution.
The commission reasoned that voters can more easily follow the money if Repeal Now identifies Aurora Action Network as its contributor and Aurora separately discloses the sources of its own funds.
“Repeal Now should identify its top three contributors on its paid-for-by disclaimers, rather than the top three contributors to AAN,” the order said. It said “should.”
The commission’s findings were not a complete victory for Repeal Now. APOC identified some errors in its campaign reports, including a contribution listed as $45,000 when the correct amount was $44,500.
That $500 clerical error generated a theoretical maximum penalty of $14,600 because the statutory fine accumulated at $50 per day. APOC concluded that such a penalty would be far out of proportion to the harm and reduced Repeal Now’s fine to $471.25. APOC often reduces fines dramatically, depending on factors.
Repeal Now also filed two reports showing that it received money from Aurora before Aurora had received the corresponding funds from its donors. The commission ordered the organizations to work with APOC staff to reconcile those dates. Any resulting penalty is to be calculated after the reports are corrected.
Another report initially failed to include a $15,000 contribution received from Aurora, although the money was later disclosed in Repeal Now’s quarterly filing. Repeal Now also incorrectly identified a corporate contribution from LOT, Inc. as coming from the company’s owner, Jim Lot Turner. The commission called that error unlikely to confuse the public but ordered it corrected.
APOC found no violation over a report that mistakenly listed donor Timothy Mellon’s state as Alaska instead of Wyoming. Aurora acknowledged that mistake and corrected it.
The commission also declined to fine Repeal Now for failing to file its first quarterly report of 2026. The order found that instructions from APOC and expectations generated by the agency’s electronic filing system likely caused confusion. Repeal Now was ordered to file the missing quarterly reports within 10 days.
In another significant portion of the decision, the commission cleared Repeal Now over two YouTube videos that did not contain their own paid-for-by disclaimers. Under previous APOC precedent, a disclaimer linked from a campaign’s social-media profile page could cover the political content posted there.
Because Repeal Now followed that existing guidance, the commission dismissed the allegation.
APOC established a stricter rule for future elections. Beginning with the next election cycle, political advertisements distributed through social media will have to contain their own paid-for-by disclaimers rather than relying solely on a link from a campaign’s profile or homepage. This will greatly impact all campaigns.
The decision is dramatically narrower than the law-fare case Alaskans for Better Elections presented.
The final order may be appealed to Alaska Superior Court within 30 days. A request for reconsideration by APOC must be filed within 15 days after the order is delivered or mailed.
