The well-heeled proponents of ranked-choice voting like to sell the alternative voting system as a way to take polarization out of elections. In leftist language, RCV “makes our democracy more equitable.”
But even some of the nation’s left-leaning groups and institutions have warned about the dangers of RCV, also known as “instant-runoff voting.” Interestingly, they see the privileged preference system as a road to “voter suppression.”
“I would suggest to anybody who thinks that ranked-choice voting will stop partisanship or bet a better system, look at what some of the left-wing organizations say about RCV … They all pan it for what it is, which is a chaotic and confusing system,” Mike Vallante told me this week on the Vicki McKenna Show. Vallante is the director of the Center for Election Integrity at the America First Policy Institute.
A white paper published in April 2023 by academics at the Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota — certainly no bastion of conservative thought — asks an important question: “Where’s the evidence supporting Ranked Choice Voting Claims?” Among its findings, the report said that there is “little research to support the proposition that RCV decreased polarization.”
“A particularly sophisticated analysis found that RCV actually increased animosity among Democrats and Republicans compared to our current system,” the paper stated.
RCV is ‘Not Right for Democracy’
As far as Ranked-Choice Voting bringing about more “equity” in elections and “diversity” among elected leaders, the report concluded there is “little
