Suzanne Downing: Peltola’s ranked-choice wrecking crew could bring down Murkowski’s voting system

By SUZANNE DOWNING

Oct. 31, 2026 – In the world of unintended consequences, Mary Peltola may be doing more to advance the repeal of ranked-choice voting than its opponents could have ever accomplished on their own.

That might just be a nightmare for Sen. Lisa Murkowski and her ally, attorney Scott Kendall, two of the most prominent champions of Alaska’s election experiment-gone-wrong. They want to preserve RCV, the voting virus that escaped their election lab and morphed into a monster.

The scandal engulfing Peltola’s Senate campaign may help persuade voters to tear it out by the roots.

For repeal supporters (“Vote Yes to end the Mess”), “Decoy Dan” is Exhibit A — an argument with a name and a face.

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The New York Times reported that people associated with Peltola’s campaign and national Democratic operatives pursued a candidate-recruitment effort intended to weaken Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan and ultimately defeat him.

One assignment was to search voter records far and wide in Alaska for other Alaskans named Dan Sullivan. There are several of them out there and they found one willing to take part in the trickery. That man, Decoy Dan, is now said to be hiding out in the greater Portland metro area.

Consider what that means: The Democrats decided that persuading Alaskans to reject their sitting senator and replace him with a pliable Democrat was too hard.  Finding another man with his name might be easier.

That is an extraordinary way to treat the people whose votes you claim to respect.

It went beyond Decoy Dan. The conspiracy involved other prospective candidates. The Democrat machine leaned on Democrat David Leslie to withdraw after the primary, even though he made the final-four ballot. His departure opened a general-election position for right-wing Heikes to run to Sullivan’s right, leaving Peltola as the only Democrat among the four candidates.

Heikes told the New York Times that a man had encouraged him to run and promised outside support. At least three other Alaskans were approached about running, including Aaron Lojewski of Fairbanks, Matt Salisbury, and JR Myers. Peltola’s campaign and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee deny it all.

The political question is already weighing on voters’ minds: Were these choices offered to represent Alaskans, or to manipulate them?

The strategy was based on a voting system that operatives could reassemble to their advantage. Find a candidate here. Force a withdrawal there. Consolidate one side while cluttering up the other.

Voters become pawns in somebody else’s chess game under this open primary, ranked-choice general scheme that is used nowhere else in the nation.

In this topsy turvy election, black is white, red is blue, up is down. A Republican serves the Democratic objective. A familiar name for an unfamiliar candidate. And the people who simply want to elect their senator are expected to sort through the tangle created by Democrats.

This was the improvement we were supposed to see? Not even close.

The open primary and ranked-choice general election were sold as a way to give voters more power. Yet conduct by the operatives suggests an effort to gain power by manipulating which choices reach those voters.

Murkowski has now condemned the deception. She knows this is bad for her ranked-choice voting scheme.

And for once, we agree with her: Why should an Alaskan need a defensive ballot strategy to protect a straightforward intention? Why should voters have to approach the ballot as if it’s an adversary trying to trick them?

Ranked-choice voting did not invent dirty tricks but Alaska’s combined system creates opportunities to maneuver and manipulate the four general-election positions.

Its defenders can explain how vote transfers work during the elimination rounds, but they can’t explain why this election needs so much explaining to begin with, why it’s intended to confuse people.

Federal and state authorities are investigating. At Friday’s Anchorage press conference, the Justice Department and FBI publicly confirmed that this is now a criminal investigation.

Investigators will have to establish whether crimes occurred and who, if anyone, committed them. Voters have a different decision to make Tuesday: Whether this election system deserves their continued confidence.

That is where Peltola’s controversy could do lasting damage to Murkowski’s election-manipulation project.

A voter need not change her choices in the Senate race to come to the conclusion that the new ranked-choice election system invites too much gamesmanship. Someone might even remain committed to Peltola and still decide that Alaska needs a to return to normal voting methods.

I don’t know if Ballot Measure 2 will pass and ranked-choice voting will be repealed. It should pass. The ballot-stacking operation has supplied repeal supporters with a concrete example at the precise moment voters are making their decisions.

Murkowski wanted Alaskans to trust the system she had her minions rig. The Peltola scandal taught Alaskans to distrust it.

If repeal passes, its supporters can send the thank-you note to Peltola.

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

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