Ballot Measure 2 was sold to Alaskans in 2020 as a fix for “dark money.” We were told it would clean up our elections, bring transparency, and show voters exactly who was trying to influence their vote. It was a simple pitch. It was effective.

It was, quite simply, a complete fabrication.

Alaskans expect transparency and accountability. They have every right to know who is funding political campaigns. After several election cycles, the results are clear. Measure 2 did not end dark money. It reshuffled it, protected it, and in some cases made it harder to track.

Supporters still claim the law “banned dark money” through so-called true source disclosure. Bullfeathers! It sounds good until you look at how that actually plays out. In the 2024 repeal fight, the “No on 2” campaign raised roughly $14.8 million. Most of that money came from out-of-state nonprofit networks like Unite America and Action Now Initiative. Those groups do not fully disclose their donors. Millions moved through layered entities while the same people who promised to end dark money relied on it to defend the system.

That is not true reform. That’s a sneaky shell game.

Measure 2 added new reporting rules, mostly aimed at independent expenditures in candidate races. Donors over $2,000 are supposed to disclose the “true source” of their contributions, with rapid reporting to APOC. On paper, that sounds strict.

In practice, it is full of holes.

The biggest problem is not what the law covers, it is what it leaves out. The toughest disclosure rules apply to candidate races, not ballot measures. And Ballot measures are where the largest amounts of outside money flow. National Independent Expenditure groups can still pour millions into Alaska ballot campaigns through nonprofit networks that shield the original source. Voters see the ads, but they do not see who is actually paying for them.

At the same time, Alaska moved backward. Court decisions eliminated contribution limits to candidates. Now we have unlimited giving paired with a disclosure system that only works part of the time. The result is predictable. Large amounts of money moving freely with limited transparency.

Enforcement has not kept up either. The definition of “true source” has been disputed from the start. APOC complaints continue to pile up because the rules are unclear and inconsistently applied by the commission. When a law cannot be explained or enforced in a consistent way, it does not produce transparency. It produces confusion, political, and often selective enforcement.

Look at the outcome. In the 2024 repeal fight, between $12 and $15 million was raised to defend Measure 2. A large share came from out-of-state nonprofits that do not fully disclose their donors. That is dark money by any reasonable definition. It is all in the filings.

The hypocrisy is hard to ignore. The same groups that pushed Measure 2 as the answer to dark money used outside money to pass it, then used the same playbook to protect it. In 2025, when I offered amendments in the House to close these gaps, including faster reporting, stronger disclaimers, and limits on out-of-state money in ballot measures, the majority shut them down. You cannot claim to oppose dark money while defending the very system that allows it.

This was never just about transparency. Measure 2 bundled campaign finance changes with a complete rewrite of Alaska’s election system, including ranked choice voting and the top-four primary. Voters were given one choice, take it or leave it.

Now we are living with the results and Alaskans are not happy.

Repealing Measure 2 would not eliminate disclosure laws. Alaska had them before, and we will have them again. APOC will still oversee reporting. What repeal does is remove a broken structure and give the Legislature room to pass reforms that actually work.

Real transparency is not complicated. Apply the same disclosure rules to ballot measures as candidate races. Close the nonprofit shell game. Require reporting that is clear, timely, and useful to voters before they cast a ballot.

Alaskans were told this would end dark money. It did not. It gave it a new path.

If we want to restore trust in our elections, we need to stop defending a system that does not work and start fixing it. That starts with repealing Ballot Measure 2 and replacing it with laws that deliver the transparency Alaskans were promised.

Originally published on Substack: https://kevinjmccabe.substack.com/p/ballot-measure-2-did-not-end-dark