DemocracySOS

Why Ranked Choice Voting is superior to Condorcet Voting as a tool for political depolarization

Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) is one of the fastest-growing voting reforms in the United States. Twenty-three years ago, the only US jurisdiction using RCV was Cambridge, Massachusetts, home to fewer than 60,000 registered voters. Today, RCV is used for public elections in 50 American jurisdictions, including 2 states, 3 counties, and 45 cities, reaching nearly 14 million voters. While new statewide adoptions fell short this past November, Ranked Choice Voting made net gains with wins in Washington, DC and Oak Park, IL, and the state of Alaska and the city of Bloomfield, MN voted to continue using RCV for their elections, too. Despite the speed bumps, for more than two decades we’ve seen a long, steady march toward greater RCV adoption nationwide.

As Ranked Choice Voting has grown in popularity, its benefits have become progressively more apparent. Numerous studies have found the adoptions of Ranked Choice Voting to have boosted turnout, promoted campaign civility, and diversified representation. Moreover, the foremost criticism of RCV – that it is too “complicated” for voters – is being steadily dispelled by the mounting real life experience of voters actually using it. As survey after survey demonstrates, once voters cast a RCV ballot, they tend to like it, understand it, and want to keep it.