Ranked-Choice Voting in a Difficult Voting-Rights Climate

Session Submission Type: Full Paper Panel

Session Description

This panel covers the voting-rights implications of ranked-choice-voting (RCV) electoral systems as they exist in the United States. Past RCV panels have compared the emergent US experience with that of other countries (e.g., Australia and Ireland), or with seemingly comparable reform alternatives (e.g., two-round runoff). RCV is no longer an 'emergent' reform; 66 jurisdictions now have some version on the books. Moreover, these versions are substantially different from what exist in other countries -- especially with respect to party nominations, but also the ways in which they allocate seats. Broadly, this panel looks at American 'RCV experience' against the backdrop of an increasingly difficult voting-rights environment.

Specifically, our papers cover: dynamics of RCV support across partisan and racial groups, historic connections between RCV and voter suppression, how different 'forms' of RCV affect representation, and whether RCV can offset other turnout depressors.

Sub Unit

• Division 34: Representation and Electoral Systems

Individual Presentations

• Dynamics of RCV Support: Evidence from Collab. Multiracial Post-Election Survey - Joseph Anthony, SUNY Cortland; David C. Kimball, University of Missouri, St. Louis; Jack Santucci, Drexel University; Jamil Shatema Scott, Georgetown University

• Majoritarian Ideals & Democratic Backslide: RCV in New Jersey, 1910-31 - Andrew Rosenthal, Drexel University; Jack Santucci, Drexel University

• Does Ranked Choice Voting Really Increase Voter Participation? - James W. Endersby, University of Missouri

• The Costs of Complexity: How RCV Affects Voter Turnout in Mayoral Elections - Jason A. McDaniel, San Francisco State University

Chair

• Nicholas Stephanopoulos Harvard Law School

Discussant

• Andrea Benjamin University of Oklahoma