
By Selwyn Duke
In 2000, candidate John Loew pursued a novel way to gain an advantage in his Los Angeles County assessor’s race. He legally changed his name to John Lower Taxes Loew so that it would thus appear on the ballot. He ultimately wasn’t the winner, though.
But he was something else: a piker in the name-game business compared to Alaska Democrats. The scheme?
The Democrats are running a man with a name almost identical to the incumbent GOP senator up for reelection. The idea is to fool enough voters and split GOP support so that, in mainly red Alaska, the Democrat will win.
“Oh, how is this possible in a general election?” you may ask. The answer: It’s enabled by the ranked-choice-voting/open-primary system (RCV/OPS) Alaskans approved in 2020 (and have tried to rescind ever since).
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