Palin’s shot at House seat may be hurt by Alaska voting system that rewards ‘crossover appeal’

NBC’s Mark Murray, Vaughn Hillyard, and Ali Vitali join Andrea Mitchell to preview notable primaries in Wyoming and Alaska, where the state’s new ranked choice voting system may affect the outcome of races for two prominent Alaska Republicans – Senator Lisa Murkowski, who is looking to fend off a challenger to her right, and former governor Sarah Palin, who is seeking the state’s sole House seat, left open by the death of Republican Representative Don Young. In “the top four primary system in Alaska, and then you get to rank choice voting and then you end up having the general election, the entire vote systems are designed to reward candidates that have crossover appeal,” says Murray. “When you look at Sarah Palin and when she decided to get into this House election, she ended up getting the most votes in the top four primary system, but her challenge then ends up becoming when you get into rank voting, are you going to be somebody's second choice or third choice as well.”