Alaska held a special election Saturday to fill the state's only seat in the House of Representatives. The office has been vacant since March, when Rep. Don Young passed away at age 88. Young, a Republican, had held the seat since 1973, less than 15 years after Alaska achieved statehood. While June 11 was the designated date of the election, the vote is being conducted primarily by mail. Ballots postmarked by that date will be accepted until June 21.
This is the first election since the state adopted entirely new voting rules in 2020. While the new methods themselves are not new, the particulars of Alaska's new system are novel, and could signal a creative way to shake up the two-party system.
