47
votes
Accepted
How did Alaska "change its primary system recently" and was it "to dilute the possibility of a conservative or Trump-inspired challenger"?
Alaska Ballot Measure 2 made two big changes to elections, both of which are expected to reduce the power of the main parties:
Party-run primary elections are replaced with non-partisan primary ...
- 25.9k
36
votes
Could Alaska leave the US, or would it have to buy its way out?
First, the case of Alaska is far from exceptional. Many states are in territories bought from other states, conquered from other states (which, if you think of it, is just other kind of deal), ...
- 31.2k
25
votes
How many Russians say Alaska is rightfully theirs?
I've never heard the claims that you are describing; instead, what I've heard is that Alaska was not sold but leased, not unlike the northern territories of Hong Kong, and that lease has since expired....
- 13.9k
21
votes
Could Alaska leave the US, or would it have to buy its way out?
Power comes from the barrel of a gun. And the will to use it.
In this case, if Alaska as a state chose to leave, are there people with guns (and other tools) willing to stop them? Will they ...
- 211
21
votes
Accepted
Is Canada required to allow transit to and from Alaska?
There is no accord allowing free movement of people between the USA and Canada. Neither country has visa requirements for short term entry, but there is no agreement (like the Schengen accord in ...
- 115k
11
votes
Accepted
Did the 2022 Alaska congressional special election have a Condorcet winner, who was not elected?
Yes.
Based on the official cast vote records for the special election, Begich would have beaten Peltola head to head 52-48, and beaten Palin 61-39. However, he had fewer 1st choice rankings than the ...
- 1,332
10
votes
Why has Alaska not been called with a 30% lead?
The Independent has an article answering this very question. It writes:
The state counted its in-person votes on Election Day, which has put Mr Trump up 62.9 per cent to the 33 per cent for ...
JJJ♦
- 38.9k
10
votes
Could Alaska leave the US, or would it have to buy its way out?
The question of the right to secession has been conclusively resolved in 1865, and distils down to "NO" .
A bit longer legal analysis is at https://www.alaskabar.org/servlet/content/...
- 91.8k
9
votes
How many Russians say Alaska is rightfully theirs?
I don't believe the number is higher than 0.1% on average since the sale happened. No politician, or elected official, seriously brought up the question. At times of escalated hostility between US and ...
- 127
9
votes
Accepted
Why is the Gravina Island bridge held up as an example of wasteful pork-barrel spending?
Bridges are expensive. Some don't like government spending large sums of taxpayer money where they cannot see the value. To that end, it is necessary to hold up an expensive example with a catchy ...
- 34.4k
7
votes
Does the U.S. House of Representatives have the power to block drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR)?
Congress, as a whole could pass legislation, and then could override a presidential veto, but the House, itself, is not empowered to act unilaterally.
In that kind of a situation, if there was the ...
- 20.8k
7
votes
Why has Alaska not been called with a 30% lead?
Google lists Associated Press predictions. Associated Press has explained their rationale:
WHY AP CALLED CALIFORNIA FOR BIDEN:
The AP declared Democrat Joe Biden the winner of California as soon as ...
- 1,336
7
votes
How many Russians say Alaska is rightfully theirs?
There are no solid polling data on how many Russians say Alaska is rightfully theirs. I was able to find the following results, indicating that between a quarter and a third of Russians say that ...
- 10.6k
4
votes
Why has Alaska not been called with a 30% lead?
I certainly felt some unevenness in how Florida and Alaska were(n't) called. Especially as I'd noticed Alaska's history of voting Republican in recent elections.
But in investigating I was surprised ...
- 1,099
2
votes
Why did Alaska introduce ranked voting for the general election but not for the primary?
Q: Why did Alaska introduce ranked voting for the general election but not for the primary?
Q: But... why didn't they also introduce ranked voting for the primary? It seems like that it would be just ...
- 34.4k
2
votes
Did the 2022 Alaska congressional special election have a Condorcet winner, who was not elected?
TL;DR: It's possible that Begich was the Condorcet winner (with an overall Condorcet ranking of Begich > Peltola > Palin), but we can't know for sure without knowing everyone's second choices.
...
- 3,590
2
votes
Why is the Gravina Island bridge held up as an example of wasteful pork-barrel spending?
It is wasteful spending if costs exceed benefits. It is a useful project if benefits exceed costs. What you are missing is that the political process is only partly a comparison of costs and benefits. ...
- 1,611
1
vote
Why has Alaska not been called with a 30% lead?
Media projections are essentially statistical models that are fed different kind of data (exit and pre-election polls, votes already counted, vote distribution by county, ballots outstanding, etc.) ...
- 755
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