Election Law at Ohio State is hosting this webinar, with registration at this link:

Alaska’s First Ranked Choice Voting Election

Monday, September 12
1:30 – 2:30 p.m. (ET)
Zoom

Alaska’s special election on August 16 to fill the US House seat of the late Rep. Don Young was the first test of the state’s new electoral system adopted by voters in 2020. The new two-round system with its ‘nonpartisan’ Top 4 primary and ranked choice voting general election has captured the attention of election reform advocates and many others. 

Our panel of experts will take stock of what happened in the final round of the special election as well as in the Top 4 primaries taking place on the same day for other key races in Alaska. Beyond the election results, we’ll ask our panelists to share what they’ve observed about how the new electoral system may have changed the behavior of political parties, candidates, and voters in Alaska. And just as we did in our related webinar in April, when we explored the question of how Alaska’s new system might work in other states, we’ll delve into how Alaska’s experiment impacts the broader landscape of electoral reform. 

Panelists:
James Brooks, Alaska-based reporter for the Alaska Beacon

Lisa Manheim, Charles I. Stone Professor of Law, University of Washington School of Law

Michael Parsons, Senior Legal Fellow, FairVote, and Program Affiliate Scholar at NYU School of Law

Benjamin Reilly, Adjunct Senior Fellow, East-West Center (Hawaii), and Professor of Political Science and International Relations, University of Western Australia

My Ohio State colleague Steve Huefner will be moderating the discussion. I’m very much looking forward to it, and my Election Law class this semester will be watching along with me as part of our unit on Ranked Choice Voting and related electoral systems.