Ranked-Choice Voting and Democratic Attitudes

• Author: Manuel Gutiérrez,Alan J. Simmons,John Transue
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/1532673X221109519
• Published date: 01 November 2022
• Date: 01 November 2022
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

American Politics Research

2022, Vol. 50(6) 811–822

© The Author(s) 2022

Article reuse guidelines:

sagepub.com/journals-permissions

DOI: 10.1177/1532673X221109519

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Ranked-Choice Voting and Democratic

Attitudes

Manuel Guti´

errez

1

, Alan J. Simmons

1

, and John Transue

1



Abstract

Ranked-Choice voting is an electoral system that has become a subject of analysis after its implementation across multiple

municipalities and two states. An electoral system can affect several aspects of the election, including how voters perceive the

system. Our research addresses the impact of RCV on voters’attitudes towards democracy. In this study, we develop a theory

of why ranked-choice voting will increase support for democracy and candidates, even if their preferred choice does not win.

With a survey experiment, we f‌ind some support for the claim that participating in an RCV election affects how respondents

perceive democracy. With the ongoing polarization and partisanship, RCV may provide an avenue for improvi ng assessments

and attitudes towards democracy.

Keywords

democracy, electoral systems, ranked choice voting, satisfaction, voting ballots

In most states and localities across the US, individuals elect

politicians under plurality voting rules. In theory, a candidate

can be elected with a small percentage of the vote if there are

multiple candidates in a race. Relatively recently, some local

and state off‌icials have implemented new types of electoral

systems in attempts to address various criticisms, either real

or perceived, of the current f‌irst-past-the-post electoral sys-

tem. One of the electoral systems being adopted by some

localities and states is ranked-choice voting, also known as

instant runoff voting. Ranked-Choice Voting is a system that

allows voters to select multiple candidates in order of pref-

erence. Once votes are counted, if the f‌irst place does not

receive a majority (50% + 1) of the votes, then the RCV

process begins. By eliminating the last place from the

competition, the second option of those voters will be added

to the tally. This process will carry on until someone receives

50% + 1 of the votes and, therefore, wins with a majority and

not a plurality.

Ranked-choice voting had previously been adopted across

several localities in the early 1900’s, but by the 1950’s, many

had switched back to a f‌irst-past-the-post plurality electoral

system. In the early 2000’s, several prominent cities including

San Francisco, Minneapolis, St. Paul, Oakland, and others

adopted ranked-choice voting in their local elections. A

number of state-level political parties began using RCVin the

primaries for various elected off‌ices. Interest in ranked-choice

voting continued to spread through local elections and state

primaries through the 2000’s. In 2016 Maine became the f‌irst

state to adopt RCV in federal general elections, which include

congress, senate, and presidential elections. Following the

controversial 2016 US presidential election, where Donald

Trump became president having lost the national popular vote

to Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton 46–49% there has been

increased interest in RCV to decrease the likelihood someone

would be elected president without the support of the majority

of voters.

In the build-up to the 2020 presidential election, this in-

crease in attention towards RCV could be observed in major

media outlets. RCV caught some national attention for a few

reasons. First, Maine’s Senate race showed a close race

between two candidates and there was some speculation that

RCV would be required to decide control of the US Senate.

Considering RCV f‌lipped the results of Maine’s 2nd con-

gressional district between the f‌irst and second round of

voting in 2018, expecting RCV to possibly play a role in

Maine was not without merit. In Maine, polls showed a close

race between incumbent Susan Collins and challenger Sara

Gideon and “if Collins had f‌inished under 50%, the second

and possibly third choices of voters in the four-candidate race

would have been reallocated (MacQuarrie, 2020).”Second,

1

Institute for Legal, Legislative and Policy Studies, University of Illinois at

Springf‌ield, Springf‌ield, IL, USA

Corresponding Author:

Manuel Guti´

errez, Institution Legal, Legislative and Policy Studies, University

of Illinois at Springf‌ield, Springf‌ield, IL, USA.

Email: mguti3@uis.edu