Why Conservatives Shouldn’t Fear Ranked Choice Voting

If you believe some critics, ranked choice voting (RCV) is a partisan Democratic scheme cooked up to “rig” American elections and handicap conservative and Republican candidates. These claims are bunk. RCV is a modest procedural reform aimed at somewhat improving the match between voter preferences and electoral outcomes, with implications that are neutral as between left and right. It’s part of a category of electoral reforms that have drawn interest for centuries from scholars, very much including free-market economists…

Meanwhile, in other races held under the new rules, Alaska Republicans were doing just fine – having one of their best statehouse showings ever, in fact. The same statewide electorate on the same day using the same rules elected conservative GOP governor Mike Dunleavy and moderate GOP senator Lisa Murkowski. “The evidence shows that Republicans saw no change in their ability to translate their support into seats in the state legislature,” according to a recent evaluation of the Alaska election by Ryan Williamson of the R Street Institute. Williamson also finds evidence that races in the state became both more competitive (with fewer uncontested races) and more civil, as intended. “Importantly, Alaskans viewed the process favorably, largely describing it as ‘simple’ despite some arguments to the contrary…”