10.28.2024 -- NLS -- The Ranked Choice Riddle: Alaska's Vote and Prop One's Price

On this episode with Neal and Julie, they dive deep into the complex world of ranked choice voting and the implications of Proposition One, a topic stirring considerable debate. Neal opens up about his initial concerns over Prop One, noting the financial pressures it may impose and how opinions could sway based on available information, especially in close races. They discuss the impact of ranked choice voting, drawing insights from Speaker Tilton from Alaska, who shares Alaska's experience with the system. She recounts how ranked choice voting, despite efforts to educate the public, has led to some voter confusion and, at times, lower participation. Speaker Tilton also explains the substantial financial backing the system received in Alaska, funded by significant outside contributions, which she argues contrasts with the goal of reducing "dark money" in politics.

Neal and Julie explore the risks and confusion voters may face in a ranked choice setup and debate whether it truly serves the democratic process. They highlight instances where voters may end up unintentionally marking ballots incorrectly or casting votes for candidates they didn’t intend to support. Neal expresses skepticism, suggesting that ranked choice voting could obscure the will of the people, giving those who control the count too much influence over outcomes. As the discussion closes, Neal and Julie encourage listeners to think critically about ranked choice voting, its potential to reshape elections, and the importance of understanding the system's implications before casting a vote.

Transcript

Hello. East Idaho. Oh. How are y'all holding up? Y'all okay? I, I got in this morning, and, of course, it's Monday. Usually you feel a little fresh. A little rejuvenated, ready to tackle the weekend. There's a little bit of that, but we got to about seven, 730, and we're like, Yeah. You know, you know that point psychologically, I speak of the, my brain is full point.

Yeah. I'm there. Usually it takes me till about Thursday afternoon to get there, but I'm there. But that's okay. That's okay. We're all gonna make it through. Make it together. We're eight days away from this thing. And I want to ask you how are you feeling? And I don't mean do you have a fever? I mean, how are you feeling about Trump's chances?

How are you feeling about prop one? How are you navigating everything? I hope you're you're doing well. And, yes, it gets very saturating. I was at church, and lots of people have to talk to me about politics, and I love to talk to people about politics, so I. It's never a problem if somebody comes up and says, hey, what do you what do you think of this?

Or whatever? And, because it's it's just life, right? It's just, part of part of certainly part of my life. And I don't think I had any less than about 3 or 4 conversations about the election that's coming. And all the things, everything that's happening. And I'm here to tell you, I am feeling very, very optimistic about this presidential race, and I hope you are too.

Now, I know we have some, I would call them with great love and with gentle effect, negative nellies in our audience. They think it's rigged. They think it's stolen. They think Kamala is going to be the president no matter what. Doesn't matter what happens. Kamala is going to be the president. I get it, we're all a little twitchy.

We're all a little twitchy. So I get that. But don't trust the twitchy too much. A lot of these states have worked hard to shore things up. I think Donald Trump has massive, massive momentum across the fruited plain. Sometimes it just doesn't show up in the polls as monumental as it is in the hearts and minds of Americans, but one that I watch close and I think this is, a good, good piece of advice for a lot of people watch where people are putting their money.

Now, I'm not a gambler. I don't put money, certainly not on politics, but, the betting average right now, real clear politics, has Donald Trump at a 61.3% probability, which leaves Kamala Harris at a 37.3. There's an extra percentage point in there, I guess, for something weird or crazy that could happen. It won't, but, you know, you gotta you gotta look at that and make some accommodation for it.

Trump leads in every single swing state. Now, granted, the margins are slim, but he leads, and now, I mean, they're even listing New Mexico and Virginia as battlegrounds. But in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Arizona, North Carolina, Georgia. Trump leads every single one of those states. Now, that is not to say we can get complacent or that we can stop caring.

And he's got it in the bag. I don't believe he's got it in the bag now in Idaho. He's got it in the bag. Pretty much everybody listening right now. You already know you're you're voting for Trump. So that's understood. So we have that was very very big week Donald Trump at a massive rally in Madison Square Garden in New York City about 20,000 people inside the arena and another close to 80,000 people outside.

They're able to look at the cell phone data. Well, there might even have been a few people without cell phones. There are those people, but they they were able to ping 98,000 plus cell phones in the immediate vicinity of Madison Square Garden, inside and just outside New York. Yes, I'm telling you, New York, it was a big rally.

Now, of course, we know what the media does, and in short, they lie. But the sophisticated, detailed lie around Donald Trump and Madison Square Garden, thanks to Hillary Clinton, is that Donald Trump is recreating Hitler's rally at Madison Square, Nazi rally at Madison Square Garden in 39 or 30, I don't know, 37, late 30s. And now, you know, that's that's Hillary Clinton's shtick.

If something's not true, I'll just make it up and say that it is. In truth, Democrat and Republican presidential nominees have had very, very similar rallies in previous presidential races. So there's nothing to that. So if you believe it, I don't know if I, if I, if I pity you or if I'm ashamed of you. Either way, stop it.

Okay. Just stop it. They have this snare. It's the same thing. They they manufacture these narratives about Trump being a fascist, about Trump being a Nazi, about Trump this and Trump that. He's not perfect. He's incendiary at times. Yes, a Nazi. He is not an a fascist. He is not. So we'll get to audio, of what he said.

Meanwhile, over on Kamala's side, interesting developed one where you have, Beyonce. Beyoncé was, I don't I haven't verified this, but I've heard Beyonce was paid millions of dollars to show up at Kamala's rally for five minutes. Now, you know, we're in the end stages of the campaign. Maybe they have money like that to blow. But remember, Taylor Swift endorsed Kamala.

It did not help her. You've had Barack Obama out stumping for Kamala. It has not helped her. You've had Michelle out. It hasn't helped her. Bill Clinton's been out. It's not helping her now. I think people love Beyoncé that they do. And I know she's controversial. I'm not a fan, but she has a massive following. I'm trusting that the same thing will happen with Kamala's numbers and her campaign, which is absolutely nothing.

In fact, it might even be worse. They looked at the Taylor Swift numbers. She actually went backwards. She didn't move the needle at all other than in the wrong direction. I'm thinking we might see a similar thing with Beyonce, because the media widely reported that Beyonce was going to perform. Beyonce did not perform. Beyonce spoke about, you know, being able to keep killing babies and and abortion and and then she left the stage.

And of course they applauded her because they love Beyoncé. But when she didn't perform, there was booing because they were expecting a Beyonce performance. So people got up and walked out. They left. They were there to see Beyonce and not to hear Kamala give the same rehearsed speech over and over and over again. So I don't I don't know how this helps Kamala, because you've just disappointed thousands and maybe tens of thousands of people.

You promised Beyoncé. People expect a performance. Beyonce talks and then leaves after five minutes. No performance. So how does that help you look? They are they are throwing up Hail Mary passes. They are trying everything they can. They feel the momentum. They know what? Unless something massively gargantuan changes in the next eight days, what's coming so there's that.

We also have prop one happening here in Idaho. And you've heard the ads. You see them everywhere. Although I will say I haven't seen them quite as abundantly on TV this morning. I'm sure they're coming. Because they are. There are loads and loads and loads of, well, out of state cash helping to pay for this.

But you're hearing from the other side now to. And by the way, I've had a lot of people request I'm doing this. Well, okay. In part to plug the documentary that I have produced around prop one, but it's also sort of for ease of, just convenience. If you want to see it, just text our CV to (208) 542-1279.

We'll send you the link back. It's about a 44 minute documentary, and it is a critical and thorough look at prop one. And it tells you in my mind, it tells you the whole story of why what's happening is happening in Idaho. And I'll also say this. I mean, we should start out the week on an optimistic note.

I if you would have asked me a week or two ago if you would have given me truth serum, there was a lot of worry that prop one was going to pass because I just thought, we are so overwhelmed in the expenditure department. They have very, very art, not artfully. That's not the right word. They've done a good job of honing in on their talking points 270,000 independent voters, blah, blah, blah.

They can't vote. But that's not true. Whatever they have, they're talking points down. But I feel like there's been a robust truth telling effort to counteract it. I'm seeing it all over social media. You still have people that are kind of confused by it or asking questions about it, but I'm seeing more and more and more. It's more of a robust debate that I'm seeing happen.

And that's exactly what needs to happen. And at that point, what's once the cat is out of the bag, no amount of advertising can put the cat back in the bag. Once you understand what they're up to and the game that they're playing. Yeah, doesn't matter if you see they're disingenuous and half truth filled ads a hundred times, it's not going to persuade you to try and put the cat back in the bag.

It's just it isn't. It isn't going to. So here's what I would ask you. Keep telling the truth, whatever that is for you. If it's on social media, that's great. If it's at your workplace, that's great. If it's sharing the documentary that I've created, by the way, it's called Unholy Alliance. The left's Gem State Power grab. Then share that.

If they're willing to to sit down and watch a 45 minute documentary, but keep telling the truth because this is an issue on the ballot that could come down to a few thousand votes. It's a winnable. And by winnable, I mean a defeated proposition that's that's on the ballot. So having said that, we had a couple of moments that I wanted to point out.

Kamala Harris, of course, is very, very weak among men, specifically black men, that the Democrat candidate typically has the, support of. It is super low, historically, still a majority support, but it's very, very low. So I you might remember this from, I don't know, 2 or 3 weeks ago, Barack Obama wagged the finger and lectured black men.

He told the brothers, about supporting Kamala. We had not yet seen the same kind of energy and turnout, in all words, our neighborhoods and communities. And so I was like.

I also want to say that that seems to be more pronounced with the Brooks. So if you don't mind just for a second or speak to your and say that when you have a choice that is fiscally. But when on the one hand you have somebody who okay, so he goes on and I'm sorry, it just takes too long to get the words out.

He he goes on and he lectures black men that they need to step up and they need to vote for Kamala Harris. And then over the weekend, you had Michelle Obama and Michelle Obama gave this message. And but the the odd sound on that, the audio is terrible. So I did a noise reduction process so you could hear exactly what Barack Obama was saying.

He's not a space alien. It's just I ran him through a noise reduction filter. Here's Michelle Obama and she also lecturing the men. We have every right to demand that our the men in our lives do better by us.

We have to use our voices to make these choices clear to the men that we love. Our lives are worth more than their anger and disappointment, and we are more than just baby making vessels and more than just baby making vessels. And then she went on to give permission for wives to secretly vote for Kamala Harris. Okay, they can say what they want.

This is America, First Amendment and all of that. But I'm going to tell you this approach wagging your finger at men, shaming them into voting for a certain side. It ain't going to work. They can try it. It's not going to be effective. It's 823 on Newstalk 179 a Monday morning, getting things underway here. And if you'd like to reach us, the fall River propane calling text line is 208542 179.

It's 828 on Newstalk 179. Can I address this Julie Mason? Yeah, sure. All right. We we know that it may sound a little odd for us to speak very openly and honestly about our opposition to prop one, and then we go to a break and you hear an ad in favor of prop one. So here's how especially political advertising works.

We can't say no to it if they want to buy, if we want to take any political advertising, we have to take all the political advertising. And and furthermore, I can't go in. I mean, technically I could, but ethically I can't go in and place it in a less strategic position. It falls where it falls, and sometimes that placement falls right after we're talking and we go to a commercial break.

And so we we we're not going to censor them. They're buying political advertising and they have every right to be able to do that. And so we we don't where they've bought the time to do it. So if I know we've had a few people who've texted in and they don't like it, they don't want us to air these ads.

Well, that's sort of like saying, if you own a grocery store, I don't want Democrats buying milk. You know, like I'd, you know, we just we're not if they want to buy airtime, then politically, especially politically, political airtime, we sell it to them. So that's how that works. Yeah. That's right. That may be a terrible explanation.

It's okay. Yeah, here's the deal. I get it that it's aggravating. Totally get it. It's just part of the system. It's just part of what we're dealing with. Yeah. I will also add the fact that they are airing or advertising in favor of prop one places no burden on us to stifle our opinion or to hold back. And clearly we have not.

So we don't think prop one is great. We are opposed to it will continue to to voice that. So you can text us. But I promise you, if you if you text us, if we're able to reply to you, some mornings are just too overwhelming. We can't reply to everyone. But if we do reply to you, we're just going to say what we just said.

Yeah it will. And honestly, I kind of consider it a, compliment that they're going to choose this show to run ads. Oh yeah, when we're clearly not in favor, but they want to reach the biggest audience, so they choose this show. Yeah, they're not dumb. I mean, they know we reach gargantuan numbers of people. Yeah. So. Okay.

Okay. How are you holding up? I'm okay. It's just, I said to you earlier, this isn't a fun time to do radio. There's there's been a lot more fun time to do it. Yeah, but this is important radio. It's really important that we, you know, unveil the lies that are being told. It just gets it just gets draining.

And I think it's draining for the listeners to. I think they're tired of it. Oh, yeah, I think so too. And you know, it's funny because, you see this in the era of streaming, I've probably been through 3 or 4 presidential elections now. And what you see is this elevation of listening over a few weeks leading up to it, people cannot get enough.

They want it. And then within about a week or two after that, it drops like people are like, I have got to take a break. It's just been too much. Yeah. Understandable. Yeah. I wish I had that option. It's all right. Yeah. We try to make it entertaining at the very least. Yeah. Just try and have some fun.

Yeah. Julie, we don't. I wish we had all the really good, solid details, but we do know of a couple of Trump drains that are being, set up for this Saturday, correct? Yes. Okay. We'll try to have more details to you. Yes. Very, very soon. And, I know a lot of people want to participate in these.

It's the Saturday before the election. They were huge four years ago. Yes, they were huge. And we are having both, Representative Wendy Horman, on tomorrow, Barbie Hart on Wednesday. They're both involved with these Trump trains. So we will make sure we get really finite details for you during those two interviews. Yeah. Okay. Julie, I feel like, we I mean, we do have a guest.

Kathy Tilton is going to join us here in about a half an hour. She's the speaker of the House in the Alaska State House, and she's going to talk about ranked choice voting when what it's done in Alaska. I think we're particularly curious about, the the effort to repeal their their ranked choice voting yes up there. Yeah.

Because I, I hear mixed things. I hear it's been a disaster. Everybody hates it and it's going to get repealed. But then the proponents of prop one here, they're like, oh no, they've done polling and everybody loves it. It's just a small marginal few who hate how it's turned out. So that'll be fascinating to get her answer. It will be fascinating to get her answer and more importantly, how has it affected the state aid?

Have they has ranked choice voting gotten them the most desirable candidates? I think that's a great question that we need answered. Yes. Yeah, I, I think so too. You know, here's the problem though. They only have six races in Alaska. Yeah. So we hear ranked choice voting here could be much more transformative. And I don't mean that in a good way.

It could it could transform our elections in a much deeper way, because we have 20 different offices that are subject to ranked choice voting, anything. I don't know if it's every single office with a Partizan, label attached to it, but it's a lot of county offices. It's the legislative seats. It's all the statewide seats. So it's it's going to be very impactful if it passes here.

Yes. Yeah. And I liken it to there's surfers who love to to surf huge waves. Right. Yeah. It's awesome for them. Those waves are very destructive for everyone else. And I think that that explains the tsunami waves that are going to come through on 20 races in Idaho. This passes. Yeah. Yeah for sure. All right. It's 834 (208) 542-1079.

And let's take a break. We'll come back and continue after the news. By the way, if you're waiting on the phone, we'll get to your calls right after the news break.

All right. Eight 4840 on Newstalk 179, it's, ocean, along with, Julie Mason. So, Julie, we, among all the audio, all the clips from over the weekend, we got this. You know, kids are hungry in school. What that does to brain and learning. You're not going to learn to read. So if you're talking about learning to read and closing gaps, then you better take away the barriers for that.

If that's tampons, then that's tampon. I can't tell you how many times I've been sitting there reading, and I'm having trouble paying attention. And I just realized I need a tampon. So when I played this clip, my daughter was sitting there before I sent it to you. Yeah. And she's like, what? So I played it again and we were having the conversation and I said, here's the really sad part of this.

Girls typically don't need a tampon tell they're like between the ages of 10 to 14. That's the introduction of yeah, I sure hope the reading has happened before then I sure we're hope not waiting until they're 12 to teach them how to read. Yeah. Drew, I don't know. I like I don't get it. Okay. I you know what?

Even if it's even if it's true because we know this has been an issue even in the Idaho legislature. Where we'll leave it at that. But, is this a winning issue for the general population? I don't think so. I would say no. I do think that she's already secured the votes that are thinking, this is an awesome idea.

Yeah. And I believe I can't remember which rally it was, but I do think it was Madison Square Garden where they sat there and chanted tampon Tim. Over and over and over and over again. Okay, so for anybody voting or being ignited by the Trump campaign, this is not a winning issue at all. No, I also lost my daughter.

Let's just talk about it practically. Yeah. I also asked my daughter, I said, if you needed a tampon when you were, say, freshman or a sophomore in high school. Would you have gone to the office to get one. And she said, I went to the office and got one, I didn't have one. I at one point and she said and all of my friends would have gone to the office to get one.

They're making a big deal out of something. That's not a big deal. Yeah. So what is I mean, I know that Tim Walz has the the nickname tampon Tim, but what is his specific policy that earned him that nickname? I believe that he was trying to pass legislation similar to road furnaces, legislation where we would have put tampons in the in the bathrooms.

Gotcha. But his included boys bathrooms. Okay. They should have been in both bathrooms. Boys and girls I see I gotcha. Yeah okay. So there was the gender cross and thing that went on with with Minnesota. Yeah okay I just like if it's a problem that needs to be addressed I'm all for addressing it. I don't know why that has to be a politicized issue.

It shouldn't be part of politics. It shouldn't have been. I also don't think it's a political win. I don't think you rally around this concept. I think that you look at schools individually. I bet there's some schools where this isn't a problem at all, a school that's a little higher socioeconomic level. Yeah, it's probably not even that big of a deal.

Yeah. But then there are probably other schools across the nation where this is really a big deal. Yeah. Address that at the school level. It shouldn't be the governor of a state rallying cry that this is an amazing thing, that he put tampons in the boys bathroom. Right, right. So and the fact that Gwen, his wife, has to be out on the campaign trail defending that policy kind of tells you how poorly it's been received.

Yes. Let's go to the phones. Hi, caller. Welcome to the show. How are you today? Good. How about yourself? Good, good. What's up? Hey, hey. I voted early, which I hope everybody's doing and noticed with the ranked choice voting and the proposition to make sure that you're a citizen. On the ballot, obviously. But the thing that scares me is that, you know, people that do not want proposition one, it get to that place in the voting and immediately mark the wrong thing.

The first one on the ballot is a citizen, a citizen to vote to the proposition one is a second on the ballot. So just be careful of that. Yeah. So I mean, hopefully everybody's reading about has your hands on. But you know some people get nervous and jerky. It also yeah you don't you know thank you. And that's, that's good advice.

Eight share five is the constitutional amendment. That's the first non candidate issue on the ballot. It's ahead of prop one. And that's one that we're supportive of. We think the Constitution should be amended to proactively state that illegals cannot vote. It is also on the back side of your ballot. So your your offices are going to be on the front side of your ballot.

You're going to flip it over. We're using pens. If it's been a while since you have voted. Do we know that's true in every county though I don't know that we know that that there's a possibility in the much smaller counties that one of them could land on the front side of it. Yeah. If you've got any kind of significant races, it's going to fall on the back side of the ballot.

And if it's been a while since you voted, let's just talk about that, because I, I'm encouraging those who haven't voted in ten years or 15 years or whatever, you know, get out and vote. There's no longer a punch system. It's a pen and a paper. You fill in a box. Yeah. And that's the way it's going to work on almost every system.

Some of those very smaller counties, they might still be using the punch. I'm not they could still be using the punch system. The chads, all right. What about the Karens? Let's go to the next call. Hi, Carla. Welcome to the show. My good morning, Neil and Julie. Hi. I am telling you, sir, if you've ever had a doubt that your documentary was not working, listen to this story.

I have a friend that lives in Fort Hall along the main thoroughfare, and he got, persuaded by the veterans group that, I don't know if they're a veterans group, the Idaho veterans, whatever. Yeah, that, complaining about the proposition. So they put a big vote yes sign in his yard. And, I saw that. And so I sent him your link.

Yeah. And he watched it. And, he says, Holy cow, they never said anything about any of this. And I says, well, I'm not surprised. I says, we need to get you a vote. No sign now. And he says, absolutely. So he tried to find one. He couldn't find one because Pocatello was out and he didn't want to go to Idaho Falls.

And he called these guys and said, come get your sign. And they said, well, we don't think we can come and get it until after Election Day. So he went and bought the brightest cans of red paint you could find, and painted the big red with the flag circle in it. And, I think that's the most effective sign you could ever have.

I'm going to go out and get a picture of it. When I do, I'll send it to you. But, your documentary is working, Neil. Never think it's not. Well, you've just made my day. Thank you. Thank you that I. I welcome all you guys what you do for us. And, have a great day. Well, I appreciate that very much.

It truly does make my day because that's what I've wanted. I, I've wanted it to tell the whole truth. And in that whole truth telling, people get persuaded and say, you know what? They they did lie to me. They didn't tell me the whole story. So I I'm I'm thrilled. And. Yeah, tell your friend thank you for being and for being proactive.

Des. Yeah. We'll come get the sign once the election's done. No, they won't. Just throw it away like it's. It's a moot point after. I mean, make a cathouse out of it, right? Isn't that some guy that makes cat hell? I would, so that's something that's that's crazy. You know what would be great, Julie, is if we if people wanted to bring their vote yes signs to us, will return them after the election.

I'm serious. Can we do that? Sure. I don't know why they want them back. Well, if they want him back. If they don't, then we'll have a bonfire. Yeah, yeah. Anyway, if you're wondering about the documentary, just text received (208) 542-1279. We'll send you the send you link. I love hearing that. Really did make good to here today. It's good to hear, especially after the first 2.5 hours that we've had so far this morning.

Like we're just like, we're so tired of politics. It's definitely a Monday. Yes. Yes, very much so. All right. So, I texted my friend in Alaska, they said, we're going to be interviewing Kathy Tilton, and he said, you'll like her. So. Okay, good. We're looking forward to. Yeah, she's all set. I just received a text.

We're good to go. So that'll be at the top of the 9:00 hour. We're going to ask her all about, ranked choice voting. Okay. All right. It's 850 on Newstalk 1079. Let's take a break and come back. We'll wrap up this hour just ahead on Newstalk 1279. And there ain't no way I'm using This is All Right.

This is a song we'll fight for you. Just don't let go. Don't stop because you don't know us. You don't belong. All right. It's 855 on Newstalk 109 on the take a little twisted sister here. We ain't got no time. I miss music like this. Yeah, it could be our anthem this week. Yeah. Yes, it is weird or we're not very good at taking it anymore.

I don't know, we might have to revise the words just a little bit, but, we, by the way, we have received a number of texts from Prime, but 3 or 4 texts from people just expressing their appreciation for us doing this. Like it. And it's there are times when we're fed up just like everybody else gets fed up.

Absolutely. But it's our it's our job and and it's what we do and we're happy to do it even when we're not happy to do it right. We're happy to do it. And so thank you for appreciating us. It it does mean a lot. I just have to say it helps the day get better. So thank you. I told Julie during the commercial break I'm like, our listeners are really great.

They really awesome. Nearly all of them. And for the ones that are trolls, you make us laugh. So there we go. Yeah, yeah. Someone said on Thursday Neil was explaining something he realized while watching the Vandersloot Eriksen debate. It was something along the lines that in prop one, it's a section that when one of the candidates is eliminated, the second, third and fourth preferences of those voters are just exhausted and no longer counted in that it essentially weights the votes of those who are in the minority heavier than those who are in the majority.

Any chance you can revisit this point and clarify how that works? Okay. Julie, can we do it in two minutes? Yes. Okay. You've got this down pat. Okay. So let's say you have the first round of voting. Everybody's first choice gets counted. Okay. If you chose the last place person as your first choice, right? Yeah. That person gets lopped off.

They're no longer in contention. And then they look at only those ballots and reallocate those people second place choices. Nobody else's ballot gets that second look in that second round, only the second place preferences of that losing losing candidate. So as in the examples, Julie would have chosen broccoli because I love broccoli, right? I would have chosen that as my first place candidate.

Yeah, broccoli got fourth place in the first round of counting. So broccoli is out of it. Yeah. But they're going to grab my ballot and go who did she choose for second. Let's take a look at that. Yeah. And then they're going to give weight to that ballot that you don't get. If you didn't choose broccoli as your first place.

Yes they'll look at yours. But if I chose brownies for instance brownies won the first round. They're not looking at my ballot any longer until my first choice is is the last choice right. So some ballots do actually matter more. Their voice is the voice of that ballot is heard much louder than the voices of other ballots, those subsequent votes.

This is another problem with it that people have. How does a second or third or fourth preference count with the exact same weight as a first choice preference? But it doesn't. But it does in this case, but it shouldn't. All right. It's 859. Alaska's speaker of the House Kathy Tilton, coming up in about eight minutes. And good morning.

Welcome back to our two. It's 907 on Newstalk 1079 Nicole Larson along with Julie Mason and Julie. We're pleased to be joined by the Alaska Speaker of the House. Your name is Kathy Tilton and Speaker Tilton. It is a pleasure to have you on today. Good morning. Good morning. We know it's a little early in Alaska right now, so we appreciate you making some time for us.

This morning we are eight days away from making a big decision and facing the same decision Alaska did four years ago. When it comes to ranked choice voting and open primaries. And we would love just your overall perspective on what that has done to and with the political system in Alaska. You bet. So you probably know the background that Maine was the first state that was a test case of our CV, but they have something in their Constitution that acknowledges plural plurality.

So they were only able to adapt our CV to their federal offices. Well, then here comes Alaska. And, we're a small state, so we're a good test state for ballot initiatives. And, we are, the makers of our CV decided. But let's test this out in Alaska. So, we are a true bellwether because our CV applies to all offices, federal and state here in our state.

And so the, fun thing about our, about the home ballot initiative that came to Alaska is that, outside grant money from Alaska spent over $7 million to, you know, $7 million to bring it to Alaska. So, it was interesting because here we were kind of flat footed. So I'm really, it's really a good idea to be aware that this might be coming to your state and you're in Ohio.

I'm I'm guessing, and I think that you said briefly that you guys have spent more money on this initiative. Well, I'm just wait. If you get it and you want to try to get rid of it, it's even more money. So, Alaska, was kind a little flat funded, and we only spent about $350,000 to keep our CV coming to our state, whether there's $7 million investment in bringing or a CV to our to Alaska.

Wow. So I know. Right. So the great, thing for the makers of the ballot measure, they have really great comms people and their communications with, you know, their messaging was to get money out of politics, so. Well, who wouldn't want to do that? Right? Yeah. Yeah, that's a good point. We've had what we believe is a deceitful campaign here.

That sounds like that was a campaign full of deceit up there as well, because that is dark money that's funding it. Absolutely. So, you know, I've come across that accuse your enemy of what you were doing as you were doing it to create confusion. So that's exactly what was happening. They were, you know, accusing everybody of using dark money while using a whole lot of dark money to, to bring our CV to Alaska with the jungle primary, the, the ballot measure itself passed by just very minimally.

It didn't pass by a great big landslide or anything like that. It was very close. I think it was, 49, 51 or maybe not even quite there. So. So here we are today and the, we are now two years. We've had several elections. Happened using ranked choice voting with also the open primary or general primaries, I call it.

And Alaskans are Alaskans are fed up. They it's it's very difficult process to understand it. It takes the kind of takes away the one person, one vote. It's expensive. It's hard to educate. It's hard to audit. It's, just, really, really causing a lot of chaos for folks. And, especially, you know, people who are used to voting the one person, one vote the way they've they've always voted.

It's, it's definitely a crazy system. You know, choose your first, first place and then your second place and third place, all of that. So we can talk about that a little more about how it works. But anyway, $12.8 million they've brought in to Alaska now to keep it in Alaska. Wow. Yeah. So I was going to ask about that one person, one vote.

You mentioned that there has been money that has had to be spent by the state to educate the voters on how this even works. And we've heard the figure of about $2 million was spent in education. You could correct me if that is wrong, but I also wanted to say, do you feel like that has been actually, well, money well spent?

Are people educated or is there still just a ton of confusion surrounding ranked choice voting? Well, in my opinion, and that's, you know, I spend a lot of time going and helping seniors at the senior centers and people in churches and all that to to understand the process. So I think the state of Alaska has spent $30 million on the educational materials.

But if you just that and we're going to look at those education materials, it probably wouldn't make much sense to you anyway. We spent a lot of time going through those and, and some of the things, as the ballot measure first came to Alaska, some of the things that even our division of elections just didn't even have it.

All right. So it's it's quite a process. It's a very, you know, very expensive, and very, cumbersome to understand and what to do. And so then the challenge is, and people just want to throw up their hands and not vote, which, you know, voting is, is a right that every American, you know, that should, shouldn't take advantage of and they shouldn't be able to vote.

But when you make your voting so cumbersome that the people don't want to vote, it's, it's a that's a sad situation. We're talking with Cathy Tilton. She's the speaker of the House and the Alaska Legislature. And Speaker Tilton, I want to ask you, we are eight days away now from Election Day. How are you feeling about the the chances for repeal in Alaska?

How do you think the voters they're going to to respond? So I think that base, I can tell you based on some polling that I've heard of recent polling, now, mind you, the and, there has been $12.8 million of dark money spent to keep it and about $70,000 worth of in state money from just everyday people, fighting it.

It is now, polling is showing right down the middle, basically 5050. So what that tells me, for that amount of money, 100 to 1 that more Alaskans dislike are ranked choice voting than are willing to keep it. So I, I'm I'm you know, I'm not 100% confident that the repeal will happen, but I, I'm feeling pretty good about it.

I want to ask you specifically about the the rematch, because you have a really interesting race that at least part of it looks an awful lot like it did two years ago with Pell Tola in the race. Nick Begich is in the race. Sarah Palin's not in it this time around. You did have Nancy Dahlstrom, your lieutenant governor, but she withdrew because of the vote splitting concern.

How do you feel about Nick Begich? His chance? I know there are some lesser candidates, but this is much more of a head to head contest between Begich and Pell, taller than we had two years ago. Oh, it is very much so. Much more of a head on race and, I believe and this is the again, last polling that I heard is that, Nick, baggage is inching, inching ahead, 2 to 3 points.

Okay, but it's close. It's going to be another close. Both of them are very, very close races now. I mean, it's interesting that you brought that up because I don't know if America outside of Alaska knows that with because of the jungle primary, provision of ranked choice voting that we have here in Alaska, we have our fourth person on our ballot running for Congress for the congressional seat is a felon who is literally sitting in jail right now.

So this is what and this falls under the rules of our CV. It's been taken to court and tested even, and they cannot take him off the ballot. And in sitting in jail in New York, is that right? Yes. In New York, not even in Alaska. Yeah. It's so crazy. We received a text. We have a very, vibrant audience who sends us questions via text.

And I think this is a great one. They're wanting to know, has Alaska voter turnout drop since the implementation of ranked choice voting? You know, that would be something I would probably try and give you a good a good read. I wouldn't need to check with Division of Elections or what that looks like. I, I think that there was I know that what I can say is that during the, during the quote unquote primary definitely voter participation dropped because that meant a lot of the folks don't feel like the primary is necessary.

It's more like a statewide poll to see where everybody is. Because you're picking your top four. And out of most of the races here in Alaska, there were four candidates. So I know that the voter participation went way down, specifically that I can give you an example. My district is a very high voting district normally, and, you know, very, very high voting.

And it was about 13%, which is really low for my district. Now. We have a, presidential race right now. So we actually are seeing record numbers of people coming out because of that. But what I will tell you that I believe a lot of people are doing is call it what's called bullet voting, meaning they're just voting for their one person like they used to.

You don't have to vote rank, and they're not held it when there are subsequent rounds and you don't rank, is there a potential that that hurts your effort? And it maybe it wouldn't in the Tola Begich race because there are really only two viable candidates in that race. But maybe I'd dive into that a little bit, because I think it's terribly confusing to an awful lot of people.

If they don't pick a second, third, and fourth choice, well, you could go back and you can look at the race with, Nick Begich and, Sarah Palin. Not this cycle. She's not in the race this cycle. But in the last cycle, because people refuse to rank, that is, you know, that is estimated that that is the reason why we have, the congressional member that we do because, the what you did, you know, people did their first place, but they didn't put the other the next candidate in the second place, which would have given second place votes, would have rolled over to that candidate, and I would have pushed that,

that vote count higher. So in the races right now here in Alaska, there are there are potentially, in the, in the state House races, you know, there's potentially well, there's under five that we're ranking might be something that when, you know, you might want to consider doing. But out of 40 House races and ten Senate races, you know, there are many of them where you need to even worry about ranking.

Speaker Tilden, I wanted to ask you about litigation. I know here in Idaho it's almost a certainty that no matter how this turns out, November 5th, there's going to be litigation over it. And if it. Well, if it's a clean loss, there probably will not be. But if it does pass, I know our attorney general has been proactive in in opposing this.

There are lots of concerns about it, as I'm sure you're well aware. Is there similar litigation in in Alaska where people are challenging this? Maybe it's based on the one person, one vote, concept or other issues. There's been continual litigation, and I think you're continuing to see litigation. And there was litigation over the fact that in the primary, in the congressional race there, if you take your top four and there was several members running for that in the top, top four.

So what ended up happening was the person in third place decided to remove themselves from the ballot. So the fifth place person moves up, and then the person in fourth place decides to remain. So the sixth place person moved up. So now we have our top four. Well, that's where we ended up with the felon he was. He was in the sixth place and ended up in the fourth place.

And that definitely caused, you know, a lot of litigation, but not just that litigation. There, there, there has just been ongoing, in the measure to bringing bringing ranked choice voting back to the people to repeal it. There's been ongoing litigation like, just, oh, regarding the signature process, just just everything. Okay. And I think it'll be a continual, you know, cost to the state.

Yeah. One of the features in Idaho's proposition that has been quite controversial is candidates are allowed to identify with any party they want to, and it doesn't they don't have to be officially affiliated with them. They just fill out a little registration form when they, file as a candidate. Is that the same with, Alaska's system now?

Yes, it is. It is, the same here a candidate can, put, you know, the affiliation, a lot of, in a lot of, cases where someone who might know which, way meaning, that particular district is they can just, you know, be that political party. So. Yeah, we've had that happen here too. Okay.

So it it's essentially a copy and paste then in Idaho, what then what happened in Alaska as well. Yeah, yeah. Pretty much I don't think there's a lot of change. There might be little nuances for different constitutions. But you know, I think one of the interesting things goes back to the messaging, like right now with the repeal, the makers of the, against the repeal that want to keep ranked choice voting have, did a commercial that they told.

I told our, our veterans and military people that if if we if we if we repeal ranked choice voting and went back to our regular one person vote, that they would have to they wouldn't they would have to declare a political party or they wouldn't be able to vote. That is not true. Military in Alaska have always been able to vote.

As a matter of fact, 50% of Alaskans are registered as undeclared. So, just just going back to some of the messaging is just, you know, a little bit of a, a little bit of a scare tactic there. Yeah. We're talking with, Kathy Tilton and, Speaker Tilton. This has been, very eye opening. It's been quite the fight here in Idaho.

And, and any final thoughts before we let you go? We really appreciate your time today. Well, what I would say is that, people in Idaho need to get out and vote, and, I would I would say that, getting rid of, ranked choice voting before it even starts is is your easiest way to deal with it.

The what costs are your state? A lot less money and a lot less confusion. So I don't know why how your ballot measure is written, but however it's written, I would vote not to have ranked choice voting in your state. I do actually have one, follow up question I thought of as you were answering that. In Idaho, the legislature has the ultimate lawmaking authority, and even if this passes, the legislature has the prerogative and the constitutional authority to repeal it or to dramatically tweak it is that the same in Alaska?

Could the legislature address the problems that you're seeing there with it? We do have that ability to do it. We have to wait for two years before we can appeal it, repeal it, and we can make changes. But they have to stay within the boundaries of the ballot measure. And the way it was written. Okay. So you can't do a full on repeal of it, then.

We we could, we had to we had a couple of bills that were forward, moved forward to do that. But you also have to consider the makeup of, of your bodies, your house and your Senate. So. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Speaker Kathy Tilton has been our guest, Alaska speaker of the House. And we appreciate your time.

Thank you for spending a few minutes with us. Absolutely. Thanks for having me. Anytime. And good luck to you guys. All right. So we appreciate it. All right. 9924 now on Newstalk 1079 on this Monday we'll take a break and be back after this. Are they still not able to. Yeah. We've got nothing. I've got no levels at all.

Plus I'm freezing all the time, so I don't think that has anything to do with the sound. But something's wonky. I'm going to troubleshoot really quick here. Okay. I'm getting levels to my computer. Somebody had been on my computer. Oh. They had yeah, it was shut down. My profile was out and I did not leave it that way.

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Holiday rush. This message is brought to you by Bayer. For more information about Bayer's ongoing safety, health and community programs, visit us online@bayer.com. Hello, this is Rick Stewart and I want to talk to you about my dentist doctor Brandon Gordon and Doctor Cash Merrill at Willow Creek Dental. I think this is the first time and we're back. 929 on Newstalk 1079 Neil Larson Julie Mason interesting interview with Kathy Tilton.

Julie. And she had a lot of well, I don't there wasn't really anything that she said that shocked her, surprised me like, like all the fears that we've had about what prop one would do to Idaho, she said. Those are reality in Alaska. So yeah. Yep. It can happen. Okay, let's go to the phones. 2085421 and seven nine hi, caller.

How are you? Hi. This art in Idaho Falls. Hi, art. I have two, well, one, two questions. It appears to me, and I'm a slow study, but but after looking at this and after voting against this, proposition that the spokesman for proposition one are paid to be there. They're not just politicians, they're local people advocating these are paid employees, ranked choice voting.

Help me here, am I right or am I wrong? Well, some are. Some are doing it just out of, the passion of their heart. I don't know that here Americans getting paid from the campaign. I don't sense that he is. I could be wrong, but I. I don't believe he is. That would be a first question for anyone standing on your program and representing the position.

I would ask him if he's being salaried for this. He's put a lot of effort into it and very passionate about it. I can see it's just a horror show for Idaho and across the nation, but, but but why he would do this other than, you know, he seems very intelligent and mostly salaried. I could see what if he could do that?

Why? Like many people in politics, they say things because they're salaried or favored because of doing it. A yes. And I mean, if we talked to hire him again, we'll ask him that question. If he is, getting, getting paid to, to, advocate for this proposition. It's a good thing. You're right. It's a very relevant question.

Okay. Thank you so much. All right. (208) 542-1078. In fact, that's sort of an obvious question. I'm a little, I should have asked it. They asked him that, the get go, I don't know, I, I'm not sure that all payment comes in the form of cash. So there's, there's lots of, yeah, networking that goes on that, that, you get benefits for working in a system.

Yeah, yeah. Well, that's true, I mean, I what the thing that puzzles me about a lot of this is you're it you're an elected official in the party, you're precinct committee person, but you're also working very hard to make parties irrelevant in the system. How does that work. I, I don't understand that if, if I'm, I mean don't you advocate for the strength of your organization when you do I, do we believe in the, the values of the Republican Party.

But people who openly fight against these concepts. Yeah. Don't feel the way we feel. Yeah. I, I convince himself that he's doing the best thing possible here. I don't feel like you can hold both positions at the same time. He does it. It's a little it's a little bizarre. Yeah, it is. And I think people don't understand that if proposition one passes and is implemented, it, it neuters the parties.

Now look, the Democrat Party is already neutered. They're really not relevant across the state. They don't have much to lose. The Republican Party, though, they they stand to lose a lot. And I mean a lot, and I think so that's what makes this really weird in my mind. It is weird. All right, let's go to the phones. (208) 542-1279 hi, caller.

How are you today? Hi. Hi. Can. I am the confused texter. The I text you cause I never can figure out things, but I have never heard yet. It it. What did you put one your first choice on all four slots of your ballot. Did they throw those out? Yes. Like if you. Yes they would. You, you might, they might count your first vote, but your ballot after that would be exhausted.

If it's not exhausted for the whole thing, at least in that race. So no, they don't they don't allow you to fully support the candidate you like. You've got to rank your your people. If you want your ballot to count up. That is just insane. I it was interesting. I heard a, TV ad the other night, and they were they were saying vote yes on prop one.

It's as simple as that. And I thought, oh my goodness, this isn't simple at all. Yeah. No it's not. Was. Yeah. Well Jen, thank you for the call. You're so sweet to take. Thank you. We'll see you. You bet. Bye bye. 20854 279. And we go to our next caller. Good morning. Good morning Steve from Rexburg. Hi, Steve.

And wanted to call in regards to the last caller and we talked about Hyrum. Yeah I know, I know Hyrum personally. I use him as my attorney for when I need something. He's using my neighborhood. He's on precinct committeemen, and although I don't agree with him on prop one, I know that he's not taking money for what he's trying to do.

Oh, gotcha. Okay. And and that and I figured as much, but I guess my question is, and you don't have to speak for him at all, but why is he doing it? I actually don't know. A very many elected Republicans that are in favor of it, and certainly not as publicly in favor of it as as Hiram has been.

That's right. He thinks that that's gonna broaden the influence that the populace has in regards to the elections in Idaho. And I think his motive is pure in that regard. But the other night, I had asked Hyrum point blank. I said, in our neighborhood, Hiram, why or why is it that the people that we know or staunch Democrats are the ones that have got the yes signs up in their yard and I think it took him by surprise a little bit, but he asked me if I knew for certain that they were the Democrats.

I do know for certain that they are. So yeah, it puzzles me. So do you. Well, we did have a I want to and thank and I appreciate you calling up and and bringing a measured tone, to the to the show. About this, are you certain he's not taking money, or are you just fairly, fairly sure.

Like it's your impression that he's not. I haven't asked him that point blank, but I've known Hiram for probably 6 or 8 years now. Carson was in West Troop. We've been on Scout camps together. Yeah. And that buying in the ward choir, we talk politics of length. Okay. And, I would be extremely shocked and I would be just astounded if Hiram were getting money under the table from anybody.

He's an attorney, and he couldn't afford to, you know, have something like that go against his reputation. Yeah. All right, well, we appreciate your call. Thank you. 28542 179. So, although, Julie, we live in an interesting era for the Republican Party, right now because we do have a number of people who, again, they they'll wear the court or they'll wear the uniform of the Republican Party, but not be dedicated to the victory of the Republican Party.

I find the argument interesting because it's accurate. We spoke with somebody on on Friday, both of us together, who made this same argument that it would broaden the candidates that would be available to Idaho voters. Yeah. That's accurate, that that doesn't mean that's a great thing. No, I, I you know, if I have a 17 year old daughter and I and, she wants to date a whole bunch of 29 and 30 year old men.

Yeah. That is broadening her dating pool. Yes. That doesn't mean that's good for her dating pool. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I appreciate it's a true. They're not being completely false. It doesn't mean it's beneficial to Idaho politics. Yeah. No. And and that's a really good point here because we sort of put out these feel good sentiments. But that that doesn't mean it benefits Idaho.

Right. I believe I mean, it's clear constitutionally in our system today that parties have the right to select their nominees. And they can limit participation in that to only their members. Right. And take taxpayer funding to fund their elections. Like there's nothing illegal or nefarious. It's not an injustice which is the word that they have used.

Yes. Yeah. All right. Let's go to the phones. (208) 542-1007 nine hi, caller. How are you today? Hey, good. I just wanted to comment. I was at the meeting on Wednesday with Nick Contos and, you know, actually spoke to, Hyrum about, you know, the ring choice voting. And I honestly have to say, you know, he really comes across as a rhino to me.

He would not answer any specific questions about the ring choice voting and the way it worked. You know, his answer was just, well, you know, these other states are doing it and it's working there, so we should pass it, you know? And, you know, we started getting into specifics and about, you know, we went through an exercise and, you know, he just he would not agree that the exercise was accurate.

I don't know that it was, but, you know, I just, you know, I told him at the end of the meeting, I said, you're a great politician. You avoid answering any questions. Oh, how did he take that? Just so I put that out there. Yeah. He just he really had, like, no reaction to it. Yeah. So.

So anyway. All right, thank you for the call. 208542107 and it was interesting because I watched the debate between Hiram and Frank Vandersloot and he just flat out refused to try and explain the the Brussels sprouts election. Yeah. The ranked choice voting part of it is not part of the discussion for Hiram. Yeah. I don't think like he he'll give a very brief, clearly scripted version of what ranked choice voting does.

And if you ask deeper questions, he'll give you a kind of an answer. But if you hand him that chart that clearly shows brussel sprouts winning in the end, I don't think he wants to participate in that because that's some of the quirky things that can happen. As you know, Julie, I've been a little obsessed with this.

And over the weekend I was thinking about this issue that our caller, I believe, last hour asked about that some ballots mean more than other ballots. And it's absolutely true. If you choose the loser, that's the way you get your ballot counted deeper into the process. But what happens is let's say the the loser's ballots get counted more and they put someone over 50%.

They don't tap into the winning ballots to see where those votes were, to see if the total could swing back the other direction. Right. So some ballots weigh more than others because they chose poorly in the first round, but they never give the chance. For those who chose the winners in the first round to have a rebuttal to that come from behind.

Right. And if you're listening right now, and that sounds so incredibly complicated that has it is it is that's what we're you and I have both said I could argue both ways for open primaries. I could put a sound argument together for it. And I can definitely put a sound argument together against it. Ranked choice voting is ugly and not necessary.

It is not good. And that's why they will not talk about it. And that's why it it is complicated. It is hard to audit. It is hard to implement. And we heard from Speaker Tilton, in Alaska that even the education didn't work because people aren't even following the system. Yeah. What they spent like two plus million on it.

Yep. All right. 943 on this Monday on Newstalk 107 92085421079 is the number. All right. It's 948 on Newstalk 179. The election, along with Julie Mason and, want to put in one more plug for Dinesh D'Souza's film. It's being shown at the Bengal Theater tonight, and, I sent them a shorter, it's it's a segment from the documentary.

They requested this, and it's the segment that talks about the Alaska ranked choice voting election in 2022, and how all that went down and how Nick Begich was actually the Condorcet winner. He was the guy that could have beat any of the other candidates in a head to head race. But the current, or or this version of ranked choice voting in Alaska, the one that will be implemented here, will actually, in some races, avoid the Condorcet winner.

Which to me, if that to me is the injustice, that's the travesty. Because if you want to get the closest, candidate that is closest to representing the majority of the people, it would be the candidate that can beat every other candidate in a head to head, right? Right. I would say absolutely. If you're wanting a little explanation about how this ranked choice voting is going to play out, this would be a great thing to go do.

What's the time again, I believe 7 p.m. okay, at the Bengal Theater. Text me if that's wrong. I'm relying on memory here, but I believe 7 p.m. it's put on by the college Republicans at Idaho State University. And if the public wants to see it, it's only two bucks. It's free for students. But if if you're just a general or, you know, a general public Joe Schmo, and you want to go watch it, great opportunity to go see it for just a couple of bucks.

Plus, you'll be able to see part of, the documentary. It's just sort of a shareable version. And, so again, that's, Bengal Theater 7 p.m. tonight. Okay. Okay. I've seen that document. You watched it? It's good. Yeah. I mean, there's a lot of Lara Trump. There's a lot of, who's the attorney, had yeah.

Did Habib I can't remember. I forget, but we all know who we're talking about. Right. So, yeah, and a lot of Dinesh as well. So you got an affirmative. Seven is correct. Okay. All right. So, yeah, go check that out. Someone said and there is a distinct connection here between the people voting for Harris and the people voting yes on prop one.

Yes. Yeah, I, I do a lot of walking. We've talked about that before. If there's a prop one sign in a yard, often it's accompanied by a, Harris wall sign. Yes. Yeah. And that color, you know, he was the one who said he knew Hyrum personally. He said the prop one signs the vote yes on prop one.

Signs match the Democrats in their neighborhood. Yes. Oh, yeah. Someone Joe, the person who said that Hitler would be proud of us. Earlier this morning, Julie said, how much are you to getting paid under the table to fight against prop one? We get paid. In his tears. Yes, I get okay. People are people who, if they only knew how many hours I spent here for two and a half weeks.

Yeah, putting the documentary. Not a penny. We we actually looked at. Is there a way to to capitalize on this a little bit like it was primarily a labor of love. It wasn't a money making venture at all. But we said, you know, since it is in the middle of a political season and this documentary has a clear position on it, if there was an exchange of money, it could get messy.

And so we're like, no, we're just going to put it out there and let it speak for itself. But I, I absolutely promise you zero money. It not that they even care there. It's just a dig dignity. Yeah, yeah. That's how it is. All right. Let's go to the phones. (208) 542-1279 hi, caller. How are you? Good morning guys.

Is that me? Yes, it is you. Hey, listen, I, it sounds like, Dinesh Souza's, call me just mentioned. Might touch on this. Partly, but I think there's a strong point that needs to be pointed out about this ranked choice voting portion of proposition one. I think this is like, in the spirit of most of the left, the name things to do the opposite of what they really do.

Like, for example, the Inflation Reduction Act being one of the biggest causes of inflation we've seen in in recent years. I something I figured out Friday, I was rolling up the highway and I was listening to the radio, and I heard an ad on your station that was a pro prop one, one of the ads where they use, military, where they use veterans as an example of people being denied the right to vote in the primary, blah, blah, blah, such deception.

But it occurred to me like flash of light bulb, they sell ranked choice voting as, quote, an instant runoff process, correct? That's how they say yes. So so the truth of the matter is, it is a system of making sure they avoid having to have a runoff because they know that in Idaho, there is no way a Liberal candidate, or even a mushy candidate is going to stand a chance against a solid conservative on a head to head one on one runoff election.

So their only chance of beating that strong conservative is massaging those ranked choice votes in a manner to manipulate the vote count and get a winner with their loser candidate. Avoid that runoff. They don't want that runoff because they know they cannot win that head to head runoff. And that is so critical to understand. I hope everybody really absorbs that and understands that this is a process, a system of taking the control of the vote away from the voters and putting it in the hands of the people who control the counting.

Yes. And like with any with any corrupt election, it's the people who count the votes who determine the winner, not the people who cast the votes. Yeah. And this is a process of handing control of our elections over to and mostly out of state interest. That really has no genuine. Yeah, concern about the welfare of Idaho. It's about what can they do on their especially national level to control the outcome of states elections.

Yeah. It's so deceptive and so dishonest. It's unbelievable. Absolutely it is. Thank you for the call. We're up against the clock. We got a break. We'll come back. We'll wrap it up after this. Dominate Newstalk 179.