Complaint alleges Tshibaka violated state laws in effort to repeal ranked choice voting

Jul. 17—A complaint filed Monday accuses former U.S. Senate candidate Kelly Tshibaka of violating state ethics laws in an effort to repeal the state's ranked choice voting system and influence Anchorage municipal election results.

The complaint was filed by Alaskans for Better Elections, a group that advocates for Alaska's open primaries and ranked choice voting. It alleges that Tshibaka has used a nonprofit corporation she founded after losing the Senate race to support the repeal of ranked choice voting and open primaries while violating campaign finance reporting requirements. The complaint also alleges that Tshibaka has lobbied the Alaska Legislature to repeal the state's current election system without registering with the state as required by law.

Tshibaka, a right-wing Republican aligned with former President Donald Trump, lost the Senate race to moderate Republican incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski in November. Tshibaka lost outright, before ranked choice tabulation was taken into account. But since her loss, she has pivoted to publicly criticizing the state's election laws, including making inaccurate claims about the turnout in the 2022 election.

This is the second complaint filed this month by Alaskans for Better Elections against opponents of ranked choice voting. The previous complaint focused on people and organizations leading a ballot initiative to repeal Alaska's current election laws, accusing them of violating campaign finance regulations, including by funneling some of their financing through a newly formed church, allegedly to skirt the state's reporting requirements and allow for donors to benefit illegally from tax benefits. A recent filing indicates they have not changed their financing method since the complaint was filed.

The complaints were both prepared by Scott Kendall, an Anchorage attorney who was one of the authors of the 2020 ballot measure that put in place Alaska's ranked choice general election and open primary laws. The complaints call for a full investigation by the Alaska Public Offices Commission — the state campaign ethics watchdog — which could take several weeks.

Tshibaka did not immediately respond to a call and email with questions about the complaint.

Preserve Democracy, a group Tshibaka founded late last year, began fundraising shortly after her election loss. The organization's website states its goals are "protecting election integrity and increasing voter turnout." Many of the events hosted by Preserve Democracy have focused on what Tshibaka says are the detriments of ranked choice voting. In speaking about the voting system, she often cites examples from other places across the country, including where voting systems are vastly different from Alaska's.

The complaint alleges that Preserve Democracy must register as a ballot measure group because it has allowed Alaskans for Honest Elections, the anti-ranked choice voting group, to gather signatures for its repeal effort at Preserve Democracy events. The goal of Alaskans for Honest Elections is to gather enough signatures to put the question of keeping Alaska's voting system on the 2024 ballot. If Preserve Democracy is required to register as a ballot group, it would be required to report its contributions and expenditures, which are not currently available to the public.

Tshibaka has falsely claimed in events and social media posts that Alaska's November 2022 election had "record low voter turnout." Tshibaka bases that claim on the proportion of registered voters who cast ballots in the election, ignoring the fact that Alaskans in 2016 approved a ballot measure to automatically register eligible residents to vote when they apply for a Permanent Fund dividend. That measure increased the number of registered voters in Alaska by more than 90,000 people even in a period during which Alaska's population declined. In reality, turnout in the 2022 election was on par with turnout in past non-presidential election years.

Preserve Democracy launched a "get out the vote" project in March 2023, a month before the Anchorage municipal election, to provide an "opportunity for seeing what works to increase voter participation." Nonpartisan get-out-the-vote activities are allowed under state law with no registration requirement. However, if activities target a specific subset of voters, such as voters likely to cast ballots for Republican candidates, then they must be reported to the Public Offices Commission.

The complaint alleges that Preserve Democracy targeted Republican voters in its get-out-the-vote campaign ahead of the April municipal election. In a podcast interview with the right-wing website Must Read Alaska, interviewer John Cook asked Tshibaka if the goal was to "knock on the doors of Republicans" and "help them register as an absentee ballot person." Tshibaka's response was, "Yes, exactly. You got it right." Anecdotally, it appears that mailers sent by Preserve Democracy did not go to registered Democrats and nonpartisan voters who resided in districts with competitive races.

The complaint asks the commission to obtain the mailing list used by Preserve Democracy to determine if it targeted select groups of voters. If the commission determines that Preserve Democracy has actively tried to influence the outcome of the Anchorage election, it would be required to publicly share information on its contributors and expenditures.

Tshibaka also appeared before the Alaska Legislature in a committee hearing this year to advocate for the repeal of ranked choice voting. If Tshibaka was paid for that work, then she would be required to register with the state as a lobbyist. Otherwise, she is free to speak to members of the Legislature without registering.

Tshibaka was born and raised in Alaska but spent most of her career as a Harvard-educated attorney in Washington, D.C., working in nonpartisan roles for the federal government. She returned to the state in 2019 to take a job with the administration of Gov. Mike Dunleavy, and resigned from the job in 2021 to campaign full time for the U.S. Senate. After coming in second to Murkowski, she hinted that she would be open to running for elected office again.

Tshibaka's husband, Niki Tshibaka, this year resigned from his role as human resources director for the embattled administration of Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson. The couple have continued to make regular appearances at events hosted by conservative and Republican organizations in the state.