Alaska has a new election system. Could it protect Murkowski from pro-Trump backlash?

A new Alaska election system with an open primary and ranked-choice voting may protect the incumbent.

More recently, Trump directed his aides to get election challenges ready against Murkowski and other lawmakers who opposed him, according to The Washington Post.

Alaska's new election system changes how primary elections take place in the state and could protect Murkowski from the ire of pro-Trump Alaskans, potentially paving the way for a successful 2022 election cycle.

Last November, Alaska passed - by a slim 1 percent margin - a ballot initiative that will make Alaska the second state after Maine to use a ranked-choice voting system, and the only state to have a primary election system that chooses four top picks.

Ballot Measure 2 will change the election system to have one primary election instead of two with the four candidates receiving the most votes earning a spot on the general election ballot, regardless of party affiliation.

In a Feb. 18 interview with NPR, Alaska Survey Research pollster Ivan Moore said that while Murkowski would likely lose in a closed election because "On the conservative side, she's now a pariah," her impeachment vote could help her win under the new election system, since Democrats are now more likely to choose her as one of their top two picks while voting.

Murkowski told Alaska Public Media that she believes Measure 2 will help her election chances.
 

https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2021/02/lisa-murkowski-could-be-protected-by-alaska-new-election-system/