SB 64: The Ranked-Choice Voting Protection Act Alaska didn’t ask for deserves a veto

By SUZANNE DOWNING

April 15, 2026 – There are bad bills, and then there are flat-out dangerous ones. Senate Bill 64 falls squarely in the second category.

While lawmakers and the public have been focused on the size of the Permanent Fund dividend and the ongoing budget mess, something far more consequential has moved through the Legislature and now sits on the governor’s desk. SB 64 is a structural rewrite of how Alaska runs elections, and it tilts the playing field to left field.

Let’s call it what it really is: the Ranked-Choice Voting Protection Act — RCVPA.

This bill does not exist in a vacuum. It is, as writer Pam Melin put it, the love child of the Hallway Hustlers of Juneau.

SB 64 comes six years after Alaska voters were sold the bill of goods known as ranked-choice voting — a dastardly election overhaul that fundamentally changed how we vote and how winners are decided. Now, instead of letting that system stand or fall on its own merits during this fall’s repeal ballot question, SB 64 steps in to try to add rebar reinforcements to protect RCV and cement it in place … so it works the way its Democrat supporters intended.

Look at what’s inside SB 64:

• Extended ballot curing. More time to fix ballots after the fact.
• Expanded absentee timelines. More ballots arriving later into the process.
• New “rural liaison” positions embedded into the system to “help.”
• Pre-paid postage for absentee voters.
• Tribal IDs accepted as voter ID, even though tribal ID does not establish state residency.

They form a pattern: Stretch the timeline for rural Alaska, increase intervention points for rural Alaska, and institutionalize new layers of influence for rural Alaska in the election process. It’s engineering under the banner of “access” and “fairness,” while ignoring the most basic requirement of any election system: trust.

Alaskans are already skeptical of a system that has gotten complicated, opaque, and increasingly out of their control with ranked-choice voting.

What makes this moment more troubling is who helped push it across the finish line.

Rep. Sarah Vance, once a conservative Republican, got drawn in by Sen. Bill Wielechowski, a clever Democrat, to cosponsor this bill. Melin was too kind calling this bill a love child of the hallway hustlers. SB 64 is the equivalent of a legislative demon child of Vance and Wielechowski.

Now, Vance has threatened the governor on social media, essentially leveraging him to not veto her love child bill, or she might not vote for his LNG legislation.

Pam Melin: We don’t need a ‘bigger’ election system. We need an honest one and SB 64 isn’t honest.

Vance of Homer and Sen. Rob Yundt, of Wasilla, didn’t just drift into supporting this bill. They were flattered along, persuaded by one of the Legislature’s most seasoned and manipulative operators. Bill Wielechowski has a reputation for knowing exactly how to identify the weak links in the Republican caucus, how to make the women feel pretty and men feel smart. And he works his magic like a charm.

A handful of Republicans joined all Democrats to pass this bill. That should concern every Republican voter in this state, because this was a foundational shift in how elections are administered. The tribal ID section alone should have killed this bill.

The litmus test for Republicans will be the override vote on the governor’s expected veto. You are either willing to defend a straightforward election system or you are willing to go along with Bill Wielechowski’s slow-motion rewrite that benefits those who brought you ranked-choice voting. This is why Sen. Lisa Murkowski praised Rep. Vance and Sen. Wielechowski during her speech to the Alaska Legislature.

Remember, the Democratic Party is so happy with this bill that it is using it to raise money for campaigning:

Alaska Democrats celebrate controversial election bill, SB 64, and are using it to raise money

And yes, there are other forces besides fragile egos at play in Juneau. Anyone who has spent time in those hallways has run into the  lobbyists, political operators, and insiders who understand exactly how to shape outcomes over time. They don’t need dramatic changes. They prefer incremental ones that have just enough bipartisan cover to avoid public backlash. SB 64 fits that model perfectly.

The decision has moved to the governor. If he vetoes it, the Legislature will attempt an override. Every Republican who sides with an override will be making a clear statement to voters about where they stand. And everyone of those Republicans should be voted out of office, even if it means scorched earth and starting over, rebuilding the conservative movement from scratch.

This bill matters far more than the size of this year’s Permanent Fund dividend or the size of the operating budget this year. Election systems, once altered, shape outcomes for years to come.

Suzanne Downing is the founder and editor of The Alaska Story and is a longtime Alaskan.

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