RCV architect Scott Kendall files massive APOC complaint against Repeal Now campaign

By SUZANNE DOWNING

May 27, 2026 – The political war over Alaska’s ranked-choice voting system escalated into a legal war this week, as attorney and ranked-choice voting architect Scott Kendall, through the group Alaskans for Better Election, filed an extensive complaint with the Alaska Public Offices Commission targeting the repeal effort known as Repeal Now.

The complaint reads like an all-out legal offensive against the citizen group trying to overturn Alaska’s election system.

At the center of the complaint are allegations that Repeal Now and affiliated groups improperly filled out APOC paperwork, used inconsistent addresses, cited incorrect ballot measure identifiers, and failed to perfectly align disclosure filings between multiple entities.

The filing repeatedly accuses the repeal campaign of “deceiving voters,” while demanding investigations, subpoenas, corrections, audits of bank records, and potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars in civil penalties.

One of the primary allegations involves Repeal Now referencing old ballot measure identifiers such as “22AKHE” or placeholder numbers before the Division of Elections had formally assigned a ballot number to the 2026 repeal initiative. The complaint claims this reporting error appeared repeatedly in APOC filings.

Another major section focuses on donor disclaimer language involving Aurora Action Network, a major contributor to the repeal campaign. Kendall’s side argues that Repeal Now improperly described the group as Anchorage-based in campaign disclaimers, even though other filings list Wisconsin addresses.

The complaint also dives into alleged discrepancies involving contribution dates, “true source” disclosures, amended filings, quarterly reports, radio ad disclaimers, Facebook posts, X posts, and even a donor listing that mistakenly referenced “Saratoga, Alaska.”

In one striking section, the complaint says that because Repeal Now hired experienced APOC compliance consultant Cheryl Frasca, the violations are unlikely to be accidental.

Sam Gottstein signed the complaint. Gottstein serves as a go-to private attorney for Democratic-aligned election and political litigation in Alaska. His work often advances priorities supported by the Alaska Democratic Party.

The filing reflects exactly why many Alaskans have grown weary of the state’s increasingly lawyer-driven political system: endless procedural warfare, technical complaints, and regulatory battles that consume enormous resources while doing little to address the core public debate.

Rather than arguing directly to voters about whether ranked-choice voting is good for Alaska, Kendall and his allied groups are attempting to bury the repeal effort under compliance complaints, paperwork disputes, and legal costs.

The irony is difficult to miss for critics of the current election system. Ranked-choice voting was originally sold to Alaskans as a way to reduce political toxicity and restore voter confidence. Instead, six years later, Alaska politics has become dominated by lawsuits, APOC complaints, recount fights, procedural disputes, and technical election-law combat. It’s never been more toxic.

The repeal initiative itself would reverse Alaska’s ranked-choice voting system, open primary structure, and portions of the state’s campaign-finance law enacted under the 2020 ballot measure, and return Alaska to its previous system of partially closed primaries (Democrats can’t vote the Republican ballot) and pick-one general elections.

Whether APOC ultimately finds any violations remains to be seen. But the sheer scale of the complaint signals that the fight over ranked-choice voting in Alaska is entering a new phase: full-scale lawfare.