Ever since Alaska voters approved an initiative for ranked-choice voting and open primaries, opponents have claimed voters were tricked into voting for the measure because of the initiative’s third element: A law to reveal the true source of dark money.
Today, the House Judiciary Committee put that law on the chopping block.
On a party-line vote, the committee approved a new version of Judiciary Chair Rep. Sarah Vance’s House Bill 4, transforming it from a repeal of ranked-choice voting and open primaries to a wholesale repeal of the entire ballot measure. Vance said she intends to return the state’s election law to its pre-initiative status.
It’s largely a symbolic gesture, given the Senate leadership has already outlined opposition to any repeal of the voter-approved changes.
The dark money provisions aim to disclose the true source of contributions in candidate races. That would affect groups like the Republican Governors Association that aggregate political contributions and deliver them to specific races.
Even for a committee that has proved to be one of the most conservative of the Legislature, it was a stunning move to the committee’s two Democrats.
“Why would we want less transparency in our elections?” asked Anchorage Democratic Rep. Andrew Gray.
“From the public’s perspective, Ballot Measure 2 did not increase transparency in elections but made the simplicity of our election process more difficult,” Vance replied. “I am taking action for this legislation based upon the will of my district, many Alaskans who want to get back to one person, one vote.”
While much of the far-right Republican talking points have argued that ranked-choice voting violates the principles of one person, one vote, their underlying issue is the new system has made it harder for them to get elected. In the last cycle of legislative elections, moderate Republicans largely prevailed over their far-right opponents, which was a major shift from the trend under the semi-closed partisan primaries of the past.
Eagle River Republican Rep. Jamie Allard said during the hearing that she preferred the old system that gave Republican primary voters more say.
Gray and Rep. Cliff Groh, a fellow Anchorage Democrat, challenged Vance on the reasoning behind the change. Groh noted that the dark money provisions have nothing to do with the voting system but are aimed at revealing the true source of money passed through large intermediary groups.
“Is your intent behind it to increase the role of dark money in Alaska?” Groh asked.
“My intent with this legislation is to return our election process to one person, one vote,” Vance said, citing some unnamed Alaskans allegedly fined for their actions. She said they wouldn’t have been fined under the old system.
Rep. Ben Carpenter, a close ally to Vance, said he was skeptical that “dark money” is anything more than a scare tactic.
“What do you mean by dark money? The money in my pocket is dark when it’s in my pocket, and it’s light when I pull it out, but it’s still green,” he said. “It’s a scare tactic that doesn’t really mean anything. Of course, everybody … is going to be supportive of getting rid of something that’s dark and scary.”
He claimed that the law had not affected Alaska politics in the two-three years since it became law. That’s not the case.
One of the biggest, and still ongoing, legal battles over Alaska’s campaign disclosure laws is precisely about the dark money provisions currently under fire. It deals with an independent expenditure campaign that supported Gov. Mike Dunleavy in the 2022 election and was funded by the Republican Governors Association.
The RGA delivered millions of dollars in support for the campaign days ahead of when the dark money law went into effect, but a still-ongoing campaign complaint argues that the money was never actually transferred outside of the RGA and, therefore, the RGA should be subject to the dark money provisions.
State campaign regulators have largely agreed with the complaint but are still mired in a legal battle with the RGA over a series of subpoenas. If the RGA ultimately loses, it could be a significant landmark decision that would unmask big-ticket Republican donors.
That history was not brought up during the hearing.
Instead, the committee voted 5-2 in favor of advancing the legislation, with Rep. David Eastman noting that if the Alaska Legislature ultimately repeals this voter initiative, citizens could file another voter initiative to replace the law.
Groh and Gray voted against the measure. Their appraisal of the situation was a bit different.
“This is an attempt to undo the will of the voters,” Gray said.
Matt Acuña Buxton is a long-time political reporter who has written for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner and The Midnight Sun political blog. He also authors the daily politics newsletter, The Alaska Memo, and can frequently be found live-tweeting public meetings on Twitter.
