Members of Senator Lisa Murkowski’s campaign worked behind the scenes to push through Alaska’s leaderboard election to give progressives an advantage and increase the chances of moderate Republicans winning, secretly recorded conversations show.
A coordinator for Mukrovsky’s re-election campaign told a person covering Project Veritas Action that the ranking action was “key” to her potential win in the 2022 midterm election.
Alaska’s new voting system, known as Ballot Measure 2, gives voters the top four candidates to rank from their most preferred candidate to least preferred candidate in open party competition.
Murkowksi’s campaign staff noted that this form of voting would be beneficial for her candidate, since Democrats and Republicans would likely list her as a second choice when voting.
If no candidate wins a majority of the first preference rankings, the candidate with the fewest first preference votes is eliminated and the first preference votes for that candidate are scrapped, creating a new ranking with their second choice now in the first position .
A new undercover report from Project Veritas Action shows members of Senator Lisa Murkowski’s reelection campaign team saying they helped behind the scenes to push the passage of Alaska’s ranking ballot. Pictured: Emma Ashlock, a campaign coordinator for Murkowski, was caught on camera unknowingly speaking to a reporter from Project Veritas Action and saying, “While we were working on Ballot Measure 2 and voting for Ballot Measure 2, we had the whole Time Senator Murkowski in mind ‘
Josiah Nash (pictured), another campaign coordinator, noted that Murkowski had been “silent” on the issue “and honestly, it was probably best that she stayed silent on it,” but said she “supported it.”
RANKED CHOICE VOTING EXPLAINED
Unlike traditional elections, ranked election structures place all candidates in an open party election, with voters ranking individuals from their most preferred to least preferred winner.
If a candidate immediately wins the majority of the preferential votes, he is declared the winner.
If no candidate achieves the majority of the first votes, the candidate with the fewest first votes is eliminated. At this point, all preference votes for the failed candidate are deducted and those ballots are awarded to the voter’s second preference candidate. It will be counted again.
In the event that after this process has been conducted, no candidate has the most votes, it will be repeated until one candidate wins the majority.
Emma Ashlock, a Murkowski campaign coordinator, was caught on camera unknowingly speaking to a reporter from Project Veritas Action and saying campaign staff worked behind the scenes to get the measure on the ballot and eventually passed.
“While we were working on Ballot Measure 2 and voting on Ballot Measure 2, we had Senator Murkowski on our minds the whole time,” she said.
Shea Siegert, the Murkowski campaign’s communications director, declined to confirm whether the voting system specifically benefits his boss, but said it benefits “coalition-style candidates.”
“And she’s definitely a coalition-style candidate,” added Siegert.
Josiah Nash, another campaign coordinator, noted that Murkowski was “silent” on the subject, “and honestly, it was probably for the best that she stayed silent.”
However, he added that the Alaskan Republican “supports it.”
Murkowski’s campaign did not immediately respond to ‘s request for comment.
Trump-backed Republican Kelly Tshibaka, also running in the primary, is the preferred choice for most GOP voters in Alaska — but Murkowski looks like the sure winner with the new voting system.
Alaska will hold its first-ever ladder election on Tuesday.
“Lisa Murkowski never received a majority of the votes in her Senate elections, but she believes our Senate seat is hers — probably because her own father appointed her to that position 21 years ago,” Tshibaka responded in a statement to revelations by the Undercover videos by the far-right nonprofit group.
Murkowski campaign communications director Shea Siegert (pictured with hidden camera) declined to confirm whether the voting system specifically benefits his boss, but said it benefits “coalition-style candidates.” And she’s definitely a coalition-style candidate.
“These videos confirm that her political team made an amendment to the state election law that specifically benefits her and retains her hold on dynastic power,” added the Trump-backed candidate. “But this Senate seat belongs to the people of Alaska, not just people named Murkowski, and we will take it back no matter what deceptive political games she tries.”
Trump visited Alaska last month for his first-ever campaign event there.
He put his support behind Tshibaka and former Governor Sarah Palin, who is running for Alaska’s Big House seat, which remained vacant when the late Representative Don Young died in March after serving nearly 49 years.
Alaska now has an open political party primary and general election by ranking.
Murkwoski has established herself as one of the most moderate Republicans in the Senate. She supports abortion rights, voted against repealing the Affordable Care Act, cast her ballot to confirm current Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, and voted with Biden on 69 percent of the cases.
Trump-backed candidate Kelly Tshibaka (pictured together at a rally last month) has the majority of GOP support — but with the ranking system, she’s likely to lose to Murkowski in the Senate race
She was also one of the few Republicans in the House of Lords to vote for Trump’s conviction in his second impeachment trial related to his role in instigating the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riots.
In hidden-camera video pointed at the ceiling, Murkowski campaign coordinator Josiah Nash can be heard saying ranking voting is more beneficial to progressive voters and candidates.
“Overall it helps if you’re more progressive because it is [ranked-choice voting] selects more moderate candidates,” he is heard saying.
“And just between us,” Nash added, “Ballot Measure 2 was actually created — I think it was created for two reasons. #1 was created because there were people in this state who wanted to see a better system. But they also wanted Lisa [Murkowski] to be re-elected.’
Responding to recordings revealed by Project Veritas Action, Siegert said Tuesday that the undercover investigation was part of an effort to “continue to spread misinformation about this state’s electoral integrity.”
“It was my personal decision to work for Senator Murkowski after Voting Measure 2,” he told the Anchorage Daily News. “I hadn’t thought about it during the second voting measure. I was focused on passing a voting measure that would give Alaskan voters more choices.”