In 2025, democracy became a defining issue across the United States. Gerrymandering battles dominated headlines, voting rights policies faced renewed challenges, and thousands of people gathered at No Kings rallies to make their voices heard. Those struggles are not behind us, and some of the greatest threats to our democracy may still be coming. As Alaskans settle into 2026 and look ahead to the state legislature convening next week, we want to highlight recent developments that could shape the future of voting in Alaska.

Another attempt to repeal open primaries and ranked choice voting (RCV) is now underway. In 2020, Alaska voters approved major changes to our election system. We opened primary elections to all voters and adopted ranked choice voting for general elections. In 2024, voters rejected a ballot measure that would have repealed open primaries and RCV, showing that Alaskans want to give more power to voters and leave partisan politics behind us. Despite the voters’ will, RCV opponents quickly launched a new effort. After collecting enough signatures, the lieutenant governor officially certified the petition in December. 

This means that the repeal will once again appear on the ballot for the November 3 General Election, unless legislative timing requirements place it earlier. If you like open primaries and ranked choice voting (like we do), then you will want to vote NO on the ballot measure in November, adding another layer of confusion for voters. This effort is a full repeal of “Ballot Measure 2,” so the rollback will also include popular campaign finance disclosure provisions that were included in the original 2020 ballot measure. A lot of work will need to be done to protect RCV. We hope you will join us when the time comes. 

In other news, the USPS has clarified rules around its official “postmark”, a mark that shows where and when mail was accepted by the Postal Service. Historically, the mark has been used in law as proof that an official deadline was met, such as submitting a ballot by Election Day. A USPS postmark was used to indicate the date when the mail was dropped in a mailbox or submitted at the post office counter. 

Now, the postmark will reflect the date an envelope is first processed by an automated USPS sorting machine, potentially days after it was dropped off. Alaska law specifies that absentee ballots returned by mail must be postmarked on or before Election Day, so voters will need to be careful about how they return their ballot close to that deadline. Voters who want to ensure that their Ballot Mail is postmarked on the date it is received by USPS may go to any post office and request a manual postmark free of charge. But this new rule will have a big impact on Rural Alaska, where post offices are few and far between. Voting by mail is still a safe and secure way to vote — we will keep you updated as things develop. 

As mentioned above, the state legislature will be convening next week, and SB 64 (the Omnibus voting rights bill) was a hot topic last session. We anticipate that a new version of this bill will be released soon and that legislators will once again take up the issue. We hope legislation will include removing the witness signature requirement for absentee ballots, establishing a process for voters to correct ballot mistakes (ballot curing), and enabling permanent absentee voting. We will let you know when it’s time to weigh in. 

No matter what happens this year and beyond, we will keep you updated on how you can get involved to help protect our democracy for all Alaskans. 

In action, 

The Alaska Center