State Supreme Court explains decision upholding ranked-choice voting

The Alaska Supreme Court issued a full opinion on Oct. 21, explaining why it upheld the state’s new ranked-choice voting and open-primary system as constitutional in January.

The five justices issued a brief order at the time in favor of the new system that was narrowly approved by voters in a 2020 ballot measure. It was issued quickly to confirm to the Alaska Division of Elections that the new voting system would be used this year.

Alaska is the second state after Maine to implement ranked-choice voting, in which voters are asked to rank four candidates — and a write-in option — in order of p...