How ranked-choice voting works, and why two candidates named Dan Sullivan have made Alaska's Senate race a test

On Alaska's Senate ballot this year, two men named Dan Sullivan are asking for votes. One is the sitting Republican senator, listed as Dan S Sullivan. The other is Daniel J Sullivan Jr, a retired teacher with no party label beside his name. With the US midterm elections set for November 3, the overlap has turned a state's unusual voting system into a national argument.

That system is ranked-choice voting. Instead of marking a single candidate, voters number their choices in order of preference. If one candidate takes more than 50 percent of first-choice votes, the race is over. If no one does, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated, and those ballots move to each voter's next-ranked pick. The count repeats until someone holds a majority of the votes still in play. A ballot that ranks only one candidate cannot transfer if that candidate is eliminated. Unlike a traditional runoff, it does not send voters back to the polls; successive rounds of counting settle the matter in a single election.

Only two states, Alaska and Maine, use it statewide, though cities including New York and San Francisco do too. Maine adopted it in 2016 amid concern that candidates were winning without majority support, and first used it in congressional elections in 2018. Alaska voters approved it through a 2020 ballot initiative. The state holds an open primary in which all candidates compete, and the top four advance to a general election decided by ranked choice.

Supporters say the system frees voters from voting strategically for whoever seems most likely to win, so they can back their true favorite without fearing a wasted vote. They also argue it reduces the spoiler effect, in which a third-party or lesser-known candidate siphons votes from a similar major-party rival, and that it encourages a wider range of viewpoints and cooperation among candidates. Critics counter that it complicates voting and counting, and could slow results enough to erode confidence in them. A 2025 study in the journal Political Behavior cited data suggesting 4.8 percent of ranked-choice ballots are improperly marked, though it noted that not all of those are thrown out.

In Alaska, the worry is that identical names could lead some voters to rank the wrong Sullivan, which might change how votes shift between rounds. State officials have tried to separate the two on the ballot, using the party designation and incumbent label for the senator and none for the teacher. Even so, the teacher's presence has been contentious, especially after a New York Times report indicated he may have been recruited by Democrats as a spoiler. Republicans say two Sullivans could confuse voters and pull support from the senator. The teacher says his candidacy is genuine, and in June the Alaska Supreme Court allowed the election to go ahead with both men on the ballot.

The dispute has now reached the president. Donald Trump has sued Alaska, seeking to block certification of the Senate results if the incumbent, Dan S Sullivan, loses. The suit argues that confusion over the names could affect the outcome. Alaska officials and Democrats are fighting it. Because the US Constitution leaves election administration to the states, the case has prompted concern that the federal government might try to interfere in Alaska's vote count.

Elsewhere, ranked choice remains a patchwork. Hawaii uses it for certain special elections, Washington, DC, adopted it for federal and local elections beginning in 2026, and Virginia approved legislation expanding its use earlier this year. But the National Conference of State Legislatures estimates that 19 states prohibit or restrict it.

What to watch is whether the lawsuit survives the challenges against it, and what happens if Alaska's count is close after November 3.