4 interesting things we’ve learned from Alaska ballot data

Key Points:

• Alaska election officials are still counting ballots for key midterm races, with more votes expected to be released Monday and Tuesday, leaving outcomes for Congress and governor unsettled.
• Early data from about 204,000 scanned ballots reveals that Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., a same-name challenger to Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan, drew most support from left-leaning voters, suggesting some voters used him as a protest option or saw him as allied with Democrat Mary Peltola.
• Republican gubernatorial candidates encouraged voters to rank all three GOP contenders to overcome Democrat Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins, and while over half of Republican-first voters did so, it may not be enough to secure a win.
• Voter ranking patterns show unpredictability, with some ballots defying partisan expectations, such as voters ranking candidates across party lines.
• Supporters of repealing ranked choice voting were significantly more likely to rank multiple candidates in the governor’s race compared to those favoring its retention, indicating differing engagement with the voting method.