Ranked choice repealers face more fines for campaign finance violations
The door to the Juneau offices of the Alaska Public Offices Commission is seen on Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. (Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)
State political campaign regulators issued another heavy penalty this week against the organizers of a failed campaign that sought to repeal Alaska's ranked choice voting system.
On Monday, the Alaska Public Offices Commission fined Alaskans for Honest Elections, Alaskans for Honest Government, the Ranked Choice Education Association and Arthur Matthias a combined total of almost $157,000.
That comes after a prior fine of more than $94,000.
The prior fine has been appealed to the Alaska Supreme Court, but in this week's order, the Alaska Public Offices Commission ruled that the failed petitioners still have not filed financial disclosure forms mandated under the previous citation.
'We agree that the respondents are violating the prior order and the law, conclude that their appeal of some issues in prior order does not excuse their lack of compliance, and impose civil penalties for the ongoing and new violations,' the commission's order states in part.
The three groups and one individual cited by the commission were instrumental in the signature gathering before last year's Ballot Measure 2, which sought to repeal Alaska's system of open primary elections and a ranked choice general election.
In November, Alaska voters voted down the repeal by about 0.2% of 320,985 votes cast.
The organizers of the failed measure had said they intended to launch another repeal campaign for the 2026 election but canceled those plans in favor of a campaign run by the Alaska Republican Party, which continues to pursue repeal.
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