King Crab Wins First Mock Ranked Choice Voting General Election

July 1, 2021 (JUNEAU, AK) – The results are in for the Division of Election’s (DOE) first mock Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) General Election. With 51% of the votes, King Crab has been named the Best Seafood in Alaska. In an RCV election, ballots are counted in rounds until a candidate reaches a majority (50% + 1) of votes and is declared the winner. The mock elections are part of the division’s RCV Voter Education Campaign to help voters practice and understand how top four primary and RCV elections work.

Round-by-Round Explanation – Majority = 354 votes out of 706 to Win
Round 1: King Crab – 295 votes, King Salmon – 282 votes, Scallops – 77 votes, and Pollock – 51 votes. No candidate had a majority. Because Pollock received the least amount of votes, it was eliminated. Pollock’s ballots were then counted for the next ranked choice on each which gave 11 to King Crab, 16 to Scallops, and 9 to King Salmon.

Round 2: King Crab – 306 votes, King Salmon – 291 votes, Scallops – 93 votes. No candidate had a majority and Scallops was eliminated. Those ballots were then counted for their next ranked choice on each which gave 36 to King Salmon and 52 to King Crab.

Round 3: King Crab – 358 votes and King Salmon – 327 votes. With a majority of votes, King Crab was declared the winner. Final tallies do not include “Inactive/Exhausted” ballots. As in a real election, ballots are considered “inactive” when all candidates a voter has ranked have been eliminated and there is no “next ranked choice” to move onto. This often happens when a voter skips a rank and doesn’t rank every candidate.

Voters can reach the Division of Elections with questions and feedback specifically related to RCV by emailing elections@alaska.gov. Organizations and other potential partners who want to help with the campaign can also reach out to that email address.

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Division of Elections Contact: Tiffany Montemayor GOV.elec.media@alaska.gov or (907) 465-4611