Alaska retained ranked choice voting after residents defeated a ballot measure to repeal the reform system by a close margin, according to state elections officials. Unofficial results show Alaskans voted 50.1% to 49.9% to rebuff Measure 2, a ballot effort ...

A final ballot count by Alaska’s election workers on Wednesday cemented the narrow lead for supporters of Alaska’s ranked choice voting and open primary system, who sought to defeat a ballot measure that would have done away with the state’s new voting process.

Alaska’s open primary and ranked choice voting system survived, while Republican U.S. House candidate Nick Begich defeated Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola, according to the unofficial results released on Wednesday.

By the narrowest of margins, Alaska will keep its ranked choice voting (RCV) system. In 2020, Alaskan voters passed Ballot Measure 2, which replaced the state's traditional voting system with RCV. The measure passed narrowly,

More than two weeks after the Nov. 5 election, final unofficial results show Ballot Measure 2 in Alaska, the repeal of ranked-choice voting and open primaries, has been rejected by

Nick Begich III now has 49% of first-place votes to U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola’s 46%, while Ballot Measure 2 is passing by a margin of 1 percentage point.

Some absentee and early votes are set to be counted on Tuesday, but Alaskans may need to wait until Nov. 20 for clear results.

The narrow vote to keep RCV in Alaska is great news for Lisa Murkowski but didn’t save Mary Peltola. Meanwhile RCV lost in five other states.

With 50.1 percent of the final tally, Alaskans voted to preserve a system that allows voters more choice in how they vote, and who they vote for.

Alaska’s election results are expected to become finalized Wednesday evening when the state tabulates its ballots through the ranked-choice voting runoff process.