I agree with you and Rod that this dirty trick was small potatoes compared to what’s been done in the past. Patola has positioned herself as an honest politician who would not play these sort of games. If I were an Alaska voter it would matter to me. probably not enough to vote for a Republican if I was a registered/lifelong Democrat.Originally Posted by Maurice Clark
Hi James,
I agree with you that this was a stupid move by Petola's campaign, and one that can only be detrimental to her election chances. However, all the gnashing of teeth and howls of indignation from the Republicans is really hypocritical I feel, since this sort of dirty tricks has been going on for decades. See here for a few examples. https://www.electoral-vote.com/evp2026/Items/Oct30-1.html
In Australia we had similar shenanigans. We have compulsory voting (you are fined if you do not vote) and voting uses the preferential system. ( what you call ranked choice). Originally candidates were listed alphabetically, so candidates would change their name before the election in order to appear first on the ballot and so get what we called the "donkey vote". Ie. Those who just numbered the boxes 1,2 3 etc without knowing who the candidates were. That was finally stopped when the electoral commission switched to listing candidates randomly.
Have fun Tuesday night. Make sure you have plenty of popcorn! 🙃
Maurice
Election predictions
Started by ozprof, 10/24/2026 02:21PM
Posted 11/02/2026 03:48PM
#20
Posted 11/02/2026 11:47PM
| Edited 11/02/2026 11:52PM
#21
Hopefully tomorrow is D day and the beginning of the end of MAGA. Of course, I could be totally off base and trump gets out the vote from his minions, although I also think his minions may be hurting a bit economically and disappointed he did the exact opposite of what he promised he'd do. Hopefully they put the blame where it is due. Besides, trump has been even more a whack job the last few months than he has been in the past. The screamer would be screaming about it if it was Biden saying the crazy things coming out of trump's mouth at his rallies.
Posted 11/02/2026 11:54PM
#22
Honestly, she seems like little more than a freak show. I doubt it will have much impact on the election.Originally Posted by Rod Kaufman
Maybe---how do you see the Haley Stevens defection--helping or hurting the Democrats in Michigan?
Posted 11/02/2026 11:56PM
| Edited 11/02/2026 11:57PM
#23
My understanding is that there is a top-2 runoff if no candidate gets more 50% of the vote, so it seems immaterial to me.Originally Posted by James Brown
I agree with you and Rod that this dirty trick was small potatoes compared to what’s been done in the past. Patola has positioned herself as an honest politician who would not play these sort of games. If I were an Alaska voter it would matter to me. probably not enough to vote for a Republican if I was a registered/lifelong Democrat.
Posted 11/03/2026 12:30AM
#24
Hi Russ,Originally Posted by Russ Carroll
My understanding is that there is a top-2 runoff if no candidate gets more 50% of the vote, so it seems immaterial to me.
I don't think this is the case since Alaska uses ranked choice voting. If no candidate has over 50% in the first count, the votes for the lowest candidate are distributed to the other candidates according to their second preference.
This continues until only 2 candidates remain, at which point one of them must have over 50%.
Cheers
Maurice
Scientifically proven fact:- No woman has ever murdered her husband while he is washing the dishes.
Posted 11/03/2026 12:37AM
#25
Originally Posted by Maurice Clark
Hi Russ,
I don't think this is the case since Alaska uses ranked choice voting. If no candidate has over 50% in the first count, the votes for the lowest candidate are distributed to the other candidates according to their second preference.
This continues until only 2 candidates remain, at which point one of them must have over 50%.
Cheers
Maurice
I think that would still work out about the same.
Funding Member
