Brunswick Beacon, 09.15.22
Alaska’s recent special congressional election proves that voters reject extremism. In 2020, Alaska adopted election reforms that reward consensus builders, discourage extremists, and elect the candidate most voters prefer. It replaced party primaries with one open, nonpartisan primary. The top 4 vote-getters advance to a general election using ranked-choice voting. Voters list each candidate by preference. If no candidate’s first-place votes exceed 50%, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated. Second-place votes from that candidates’ ballots are distributed to remaining candidates. The process continues until one candidate breaks 50%.
First-place votes gave Democrat Mary Peltola 40.2%, Republican Sarah Palin 31.3%, and Republican Nick Begich 28.5%. Begich was eliminated and his voters’ second-place votes were distributed. Peltola won, 51.5% to 48.5%.
Palin cried foul. Sen. Tom Cotton called it “rigged.” It wasn’t. Peltola won because she was the second choice of many Republican voters. They rejected Palin, who Trump endorsed, as too extreme.
Palin’s extremism paved the way for Trump. Before Trump, Palin promoted the birtherism lie against Obama. She accused Obama of “palling around with terrorists.” She lied that Obamacare would lead to “death panels.” Steve Schmidt, who ran the 2008 McCain/Palin campaign, calls her “a serial liar.”
Palin spread the Big Lie that the 2020 election was rigged. So did Ted Budd and David Rouzer. Trump endorsed them both.
Budd and Rouzer voted to overturn the election. They voted against investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection, against the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act that was supported by North Carolina’s two Republican senators, against capping insulin prices, and against reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act. They want to end a woman’s right to choose. They even helped China by voting against the CHIPS Act!
Alaskan Republicans rejected Trump’s choice, “serial liar” Sarah Palin and her extremism. Brunswick County should do likewise. Reject extremists Budd and Rouzer. Elect Cheri Beasley and Charles Graham.
Claudia Tidwell
Leland
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