 choice voting is, you know, basically it gets rid of the one vote, one candidate system or the principle in our Constitution by demanding that voters must rank all the candidates, even candidates that they never heard of or they dislike or even maybe in a different party. Well, the part that's so bizarre to me is that  Yeah, there are people like the Lisa Murkowskis who are, who is now toying with going independent. And most people would say, I think shoot almost every, uh, Republican district, if I'm not mistaken, went against her. And she is considered, you know, one of the most far leftist Republicans, um, in the country. And you'll have other, um, you know, uh, supposed Republicans that are saying, oh yeah, they're, they think it's fine. It's wonderful.  But the reality is it doesn't take that much thinking and looking to see that this has become a very partisan issue. The very fact that it has become a partisan issue where you have conservative groups that are saying, who are saying, listen, this is the first time in 50 years that we elected a Democrat to U.S. Congress after Don Young's term. And  It was simply because of ranked choice and it was orchestrated also by Murkowski to win against Chewbacca. And so it seems to me that, you know, it's very difficult for the other for the proponents of ranked choice voting to say this is a nonpartisan thing, because, you know,  the sides are kind of going against each other and not just the sides. It used to be like at the beginning with Mark baggage and the head of the Democrat party of Alaska being opposed to it. Well, then when they, they got it and they realized that it was to their benefit, then there's now changing their tune and saying, Oh gosh, no, it's the greatest thing in the world. It's so good for everyone. But then if I'm not mistaken, I've seen quotes from, you know, San Francisco and New York city and typically very, um,  you know, progressive liberal communities who have said that, you know, it does marginalize those minorities in our community that are already struggling with issues of English as a second language or something. And this has just become an absolute nightmare for people that, let alone those who are English as a second language, but just for the general public to say, this is confusing. We don't even know what's going on when we go to the polls.  That's absolutely right. You know, I will say it may look like it's partisan, but in reality, it actually is bipartisan. It just depends on what jurisdiction or what state that you're operating in. You know, for example, the governor of California, Gavin Newsom,  is against this, is against ranked choice voting. He said several years ago, he said, you know, that he was concerned about ranked choice voting and how it's often led to voter confusion and low turnout. And he said, this is far worse than a disease. So that was coming from the governor of California. And he actually vetoed a bill that would allow ranked choice voting statewide, you know, for  And that may be because perhaps in California, the marginalized or the middle candidate may be Republican. Who knows? But it's just really interesting. I know the mayor of Washington, D.C. had also voiced opposition against it. There was a testimony from ACLU, which is a very liberal organization,  They said that ranked choice ballots have suppressed voter turnout and resulted in decreased turnouts up to 8% in non-presidential elections, which I thought was really interesting. Oh, that's fascinating. Folks, we're chatting with Michaela Ensweiler. She's the chair of the Yes on to End Ranked Voting. We'll take a short break and come back and talk about some of the ways that they have really attempted to stop the effort from even being on the ballots.  Stick around. We'll be right back after this short break. This is KVNT 1020 Eagle River, Alaska, translated on K223BJ Eagle River, K287CL Eagle River, and K283AZ Anchorage.  with SRN News. I'm Keith Peters reporting. Abraham Hamada has defeated Blake Masters in the Republican primary for a U.S. House seat that saw a rare dual endorsement from former President Donald Trump. Hamada has a good chance of winning the seat in November because the Northwest Phoenix District leans conservative.  Elsewhere, a critic of Arizona's voting operations in 2020 and 2022 unseated an incumbent election official in Maricopa County in a GOP primary. British police say they've charged a 17-year-old with murder over a stabbing attack that killed three children in Southport, northwest England. 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Take advantage of this opportunity and call now. 800-504-8790. Advertisement sponsored by Legal Help Center may not be available.  Here is your CBI Media Group weather forecast for Anchorage, the Mat-Su Valley, and the Kenai Peninsula. Tonight, look for a low around 51 degrees. We're going to have mostly cloudy skies all throughout the evening, but the good news is no rain in the forecast for tonight. This weather forecast has been brought to you by our friends at A-Plus Security, providers of home and business security systems. For more information, visit A-PlusSecurity.com. That's A-PlusSecurity.com.  Are you looking for a new place to try for lunch or dinner? Well, check out Main Event Grill. They have two locations in Anchorage. On the south side, they're at 1041 East 76th Avenue, and on the east side of town, they're over at 3074 Mountain View Drive. Main Event Grill has some of the best hamburgers in town, and I love their garlic fries. And you know their food is good because they've been voted as Alaska's best caterer for five years running. See their complete menu and place your order online at maineventgrill.com. That's maineventgrill.com.  Live in concert. Need to breathe. Performing at the ConocoPhillips Alaska Concert Series at the Alaska State Fair, August 26th. Get tickets now at alaskastatefair.org. Presented by KAFC 93.7. Upbeat and uplifting. Need to breathe.  Live in concert. Need to breathe. Performing at the ConocoPhillips Alaska Concert Series at the Alaska State Fair, August 26th. Get tickets now at alaskastatefair.org. Presented by KAFC 93.7. Upbeat and uplifting.  When peace like a river attendeth my way.  kind of the two farthest ends of the spectrum in terms of geographically that have adopted this statewide. I know that there are some efforts underway to make it that way in a few states. Idaho, I think, is doing it and a few others. But, you know, if I'm not mistaken, there have been several states that have outright banned it altogether, either legislatively or through initiatives.  And this is our opportunity. One of the things that you and I talked about previously was that this is not just a state issue because so many people are looking to Alaska and using Alaska as the example of, oh gosh, everyone loves it up there. You know, it's just another flavor of ice cream and it's so easy and so much more helpful to voters, which is just not accurate. And so the way that we can send that message nationally is to have Alaskans  clearly vote now with their eyes wide open. Before, it was all about dark money, which is ironic because, you know, ask the people that are heading the other, the proponents of ballot measure to where is your money coming from? I mean, let's be very forthright about that. I don't think that they have done that or they're certainly not being very forthright about it. And so dark money is still very much at play. But what's also at play is can people vote  you know, trust the system. And with this ranked choice voting, it's been something that has created a lot of distrust in the system, I think, and confusion. But one of the things that they have tried very hard in Alaska is to eliminate the option of people even having the ability to decide whether or not, okay, we've had a few years of this now, let's decide if we like it,  They've come pretty hard at your efforts to put it on the ballot measure. Tell us a little bit about that. That's right. You know, we are an Alaska-led effort. Tens of thousands of Alaskans united together to sign a petition to repeal rank choice voting last year. It was a really big project. Alaska is a big state, and you have to get a certain percentage from a certain number of districts.  throughout the state. So we had boots on the ground in every single district. There was over 700 volunteers that were collecting signatures. And a lot of Alaskans just wanted to see this issue on the ballot again to revisit it and have the opportunity to vote it out. Because you're right, a lot of Alaskans felt deceived. Initially, it passed by a  very narrow margin. I believe it was 1%. And the messaging was about dark money versus ring choice voting. So a lot of people didn't even realize that they voted in this new system. So we are, and you're absolutely right. Every, when we, so we submitted our book  to division of elections early on this year, back in January. And the statewide number of signatures that we needed was right around 26,000 signatures. And we submitted, it was right around 43,000. So this huge margin, which really voiced the Alaskan, you know, the voice was so strong. It just was,  very loud that folks wanted to see this on the ballot again. So Division of Elections did their tally and they were able to certify and confirm that we had enough signatures. The Lieutenant Governor, Nancy Dahlstrom, signed off on it and it's scheduled to be on the November ballot. But I will say every step of the way, there has been opposition and the lawfare has been real. You know,  Scott Kendall, who is a, he's an attorney here in Alaska and his Alaskans for Better Elections Group, they ended up suing the state to disqualify the repeal of ranked choice voting from the November ballot. And every single step of the way, the judge has, actually the latest decision was granted just the other week.  It ended up in favor of our group that worked to collect the tens of thousands of signatures over the course of the year. Alaskans for Better Elections and this attorney, Scott Kendall, and his group, they had hired moles and spies to infiltrate our efforts. They posed as signature gatherers. A lot of them went into...  You know, the areas where the signature gatherers were, like the fair, different places of business, just to take pictures. Some of the volunteers were actually harassed as well. But, yeah, they just wanted to check up on the books. Sometimes the books were left unintended, and I'll just – and I'll get into that, but –  at the end just a couple of dozen petition books were disqualified by the judge you know a lot of those books just had a page or half a page you know there wasn't enough to throw it off the ballot there was plenty of buffer um to keep this campaign moving forward but one claim made by the opposition was that there was a notary that had notarized over 60 booklets and her  Unknown to her, her notary seal had expired. She had no idea. She actually thought she had submitted all the paperwork online, filled out all the forms, but she had no idea. And so they, the opposition said that, you know, why would Division of Elections release those books so that the signature gatherers can fix them when they could have thrown them out?  And Division of Elections, to my understanding, they've done this in the past where they've allowed, you know, if there's a mistake on the date or the year or whatever it is, that they've allowed folks to come back in and just correct that little mistake. It's not, it's not, you know, it was not the intent to be nefarious. There was no corruption. It was just an innocent mistake.  Another example that the opposition brought up was they said there was absolutely no way a person could collect over 500 signatures in a day. And that just wasn't the case. You know, that was completely unfounded because our signature gatherers went to the state fair, the Palmer train Depot gun shows. People were lined up to sign these books. Right. Oftentimes they'd have multiple books on a table and,  Because the lines were pretty steady during that time. And then another example was that they brought up was there was some business owners who were in charge of petition books. They left them unattended when they left the room. And the opposition was saying, you know, you have to be in the presence of your book the whole time and witness the folks that are signing books.  signed the petition. So those books were dismissed, which is fair. But even with the dismissal of those books, there was plenty of signatures for the campaign to move forward. Well, yeah, that, you know, it's amazing how, you know, it's like whatever that Shakespeare, maybe you protest too loudly, you know, rather than, you know, building their arguments and  in support of ranked choice voting, they really went out of their way to try to utilize all of these strategies to stop the effort from moving forward. And, you know, as if someone, because we were involved, Alaska County Council, as you know, was involved with, you know, a statewide initiative. And it's not easy. I mean, it's unbelievably difficult, actually, because you have to go by district in very remote areas and  But we had, at that time, that was 2010, the parental notification initiative that we successfully passed and unfortunately got overturned by the state Supreme Court, wrongly decided. But we experienced the same kind of thing. And we never really had, even Planned Parenthood at that time wasn't out there trying to say, oh, Bob, you know, who has four booklets on a table and people in line to sign, they didn't think of that as a problem because, of course, you can manage  four booklets. You're sitting there watching. You're in the presence of these people. They're signing it. And it just seems crazy. And in some ways, in a weird way, it's almost like encouraging because, yeah, it's desperate and they're doing everything they can to stop a democracy from happening and letting Alaskans decide on ranked choice voting. But it also shows you the level of desperation that they have. And so, gosh darn, you know, I mean, maybe that's an indication that they don't have very good case statements.  You know, I think you and I have talked before that Mark Begich has changed his tune. I don't know about the former Alaska Democrat Party chair who at the time when it was passed initially was opposed to it. But those kinds of things, I think, demand attention. You know, I'd love to have Mark Begich on the show at some point and say, hey, listen, you were very clearly against this. What has changed your mind? And  I think even Democrat folks need to hear from folks like Begich and the Democrat Party why all of a sudden you changed your tune when before you thought it was so nefarious or so wrong. Folks, we're chatting with Michaela Inswell. We'll be right back for our final segment right after this.  I'm a grandfather. Love to watch the grandkids grow and learn. Two boys and four girls, two college graduates, one in grad school, and three more about to start college. All earn scholarships coming out of high school. You can tell our family puts a huge premium on education. That's why I want to talk to you grandparents who have young grandchildren, starting as young as three or four, up through kindergarten or first and second grades. I want to talk about Holy Rosary Academy right here in Anchorage.  It's known nationally for starting children at an early age and preparing them academically, socially, and morally for success in later grades. In short, they get a strong base to start their educational journey. Of course, parents are busy people, so maybe you could talk to your children about how you can help your grandkids to a superior education. 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Because of people like you said, Governor Gavin Newsom, the mayor of D.C., there's so many Democrats who have stepped forward to say it's just confusing. There's no doubt for people who are very involved with elections like you and I in politics where we've made it sort of our vocation. We have a hard enough time trying to convince people just to get to the polls in general. But when you have to explain to them this process,  that, okay, you know, we're going to, you know, you have to, the way I used to look at it was, I don't know why that wasn't a PR campaign that could have been done to counter their ice cream ad, but to remind folks they did, you know, this ice cream ad that said, oh, if you go to Baskin-Robbins, you can get peanut butter. Your first choice is peanut butter and your second choice is toffee and then you want maybe vanilla and  Well, what if they have a flavor that you absolutely despise that you never would buy in a million years? Well, you have to, sorry. We all end up with pistachio. Well, I love pistachio. I'm trying to think of like maybe licorice flavored or something, you know. You made it sound like, well, all these flavors are kind of the same. You love them all equally, don't you? I mean, you might like peanut butter a little bit more. No, we're talking about you having to vote for someone that you would never vote for in a million years because you  they stand against a lot of the core values, the policies, the things that you really believe in as a, that your public servants should stand for. And so it just doesn't make sense that you're being required or your vote gets thrown out and people just want to know one vote, one person. It just seems so simple and plain and obvious. And it is to a lot of people, but, um,  Obviously, there's going to be, my guess, and you guys have probably determined this as well, the news is that there's going to be a lot more dark money poured in this last little while. We have until November before this is actually voted on. There's just going to be a flood of information. That's the thing for people to be prepared for ahead of time in their coffee, conversations with friends and family around the water cooler, whatever.  to be able to, um, you know, to communicate about it. And so go to the website. That's the first thing that you can do is go to yes on to a k.com and, you know, educate yourself, go to the other side. I'm not sure what the other sites, um, website is. I don't necessarily want to give it out actually, but I mean, there's obviously, um, those who are, are, who are fighting this and wanting it to remain and,  It's always harder, we've learned that over the years, to get a yes vote than it is to a no vote because a no vote is, I don't know everything about this, so I'm just going to vote no. Well, educate yourself, realize that this is truly voter suppression and has worked its way into our election cycle so that someone like Kelly Chewbacca  that Lisa Murkowski knew that this was going to be her only way to get through. She could not survive a primary. And the same thing with Mary Paltola. She could not have survived. Now, that's another thing is that with this, we've had people, you know, we're trying to encourage candidates that maybe have two or three or four in a race to say, hey, listen, if you don't make that first round, then agree to step down.  so that there's a clear vote and you won't split a vote. But anyway, I think with this last segment, I'm just wanting you to let folks know that first you need help. It's going to be a grassroots effort. We're likely not going to have a lot of dark money. I'd like to think that you guys are going to be able to raise a significant amount of money, but it's always difficult against  these Soros-type groups that are behind the scenes kind of puppeteering other states, and like you said, even trying to get rid of our electoral college. So we need a grassroots effort big time. How can people be engaged with this effort? Yeah, you're absolutely right. Our biggest needs right now are the financial piece, obviously. You know, we are a fledgling operation, yes, on two.  And we need a major infusion of money. And we are an Alaska-led grassroots effort. So all the money that we've raised so far has been here in Alaska just by folks donating $10, $15, $100, you know, and on up. So folks can donate online at www.yeson2, that's the number two, yeson2ak.com.  And sign up for our newsletter as well. We also are in the process of building out our infrastructure across the state. We are looking for spokespeople. We are looking for folks that would like to help with the Get Out the Vote efforts. There's a lot of things that we can do. We've got a couple events lined out in the next couple of weeks.  and looking into the next couple of months as well. So we would love to have everyone participate. It's all hands on deck. This is a very significant campaign and the impact that it will have will be nationwide. Yeah, I couldn't agree more. I mean, like I've told you, there's several of my colleagues across the country who have said, you know, it's coming to their state  And they're asking questions about it. Most of my colleagues are very in tune with what's going on and how they should oppose it. And many states have taken the ability or taken the opportunity to pass legislation to prevent it from their states and from ever happening in their states. But this is a moment in time for us to have a national impact in terms of