Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) managed to go viral on Wednesday night with a dubious claim about the election for Alaska’s U.S. House seat. Republicans Sarah Palin and Nick Begich lost out to Democrat Mary Peltola in the race to replace the late Rep. Don Young (R) on Wednesday in a vote which used ranked-choice voting, where voters rank candidates in order of preference. Incensed at the GOP loss, Cotton tweeted: “Ranked-choice voting is a scam to rig elections,” later adding: “60% of Alaska voters voted for a Republican, but thanks to a convoluted process and ballot exhaustion—which disenfranchises voters—a democrat ‘won.’” Critics online pointed out that while 60 percent of voters chose a Republican, they didn’t choose the same candidate, and so many were worried about Palin’s potential election that they opted for a Democrat instead. Others highlighted that Cotton’s claim could just as well apply to the Electoral College system, which has taken Republican presidents to the White House in both 2000 and 2016 despite them receiving fewer votes than their Democratic rival.
