RCV in Practice: Myth vs. Fact
Ranked Choice Voting is spreading quickly, but so is misinformation about it. Unpacking some common myths about how it really works.
As Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) has exploded in popularity in recent years, it has attracted a fierce opposition movement as well as a passionate base of support. Let’s take a look at some popular misconceptions about RCV and why they fall flat.
Myth 1: RCV is too complicated.
Opponents often suggest that RCV is too confusing for voters to understand. In addition to being insulting — ranking preferences is a basic decision-making tool we use all the time on decisions as common as which flavor of ice cream to buy for a group — it’s not at all supported by the data. Nonpartisan polling showed that 85% of Alaska voters found it easy and 95% said they’d received clear, easy instructions after their first use of RCV last August. Crucially, these results were consistent across all measured demographics, indicating that RCV does not disparately impact any particular group of voters. Similar results from New York City and the San Francisco Bay Area substantiate the accuracy of these findings.
Myth 2: RCV violates the principle of “one person, one vote.”
In a single-winner ranked choice election, every voter’s choice counts for one candidate at a time. Every voter has the same opportunity to rank as many or as few candidates as they would like. A voter who chooses not to use all the rankings available to them is voluntarily abstaining, not disenfranchised.
Similarly, multi-winner ranked choice elections allow every voter to have their vote count for the same number of candidates at the same time. Multi-winner (non-RCV) elections are commonplace across the country, primarily for local elections, but also some state legislatures. RCV does not change the number of votes to which a voter in a multi-winner election is entitled.
Don’t just take my word for it! The constitutionality of RCV has been upheld by federal judges appointed by Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump; as well as state Supreme Court justices appointed by Democrats, Republicans and Independents.
Myth 3: RCV slows down elections.
There’s a reason why RCV is also known as Instant Runoff Voting. It’s possible to tabulate the results right away! Two key cases RCV opponents point to in support of the myth that it causes delays are the Alaska congressional elections from last year (the August special election and November general election), for which final results were not known for over two weeks after Election Day. The reason for that delay, though, was completely unrelated to RCV: a state law requires absentee ballots to be accepted up to 15 days after the election as long as they are postmarked on time. The actual tabulations only take a matter of minutes — a small price to pay for better elections!
Myth 4: RCV is a partisan scheme.
RCV has been endorsed by voices across the political spectrum, including leaders as ideologically diverse as democratic socialist Bernie Sanders, former Republican National Chairman Michael Steele, Libertarian Justin Amash (the only member of his party to ever serve in Congress), 2020 Green Party presidential candidate Howie Hawkins, and, of course, Forward Party founder Andrew Yang. If it only helped one side or group, RCV wouldn’t have support from so many different parties!
Moreover, RCV helps candidates from all parties. It helped Democrat Mary Peltola win a House seat last year in solid-red Alaska, but in the same election — on the very same ballot — centrist, anti-MAGA Republican Lisa Murkowski defeated challengers from both sides and Trump-endorsed Governor Mike Dunleavy beat back two challengers from his left. Voters have nuanced preferences, and RCV supports all of them — not any one side!
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the ranked choice voting movement in Rhode Island. RI RCV supporters come from across the political spectrum, including progressives, moderates and conservatives. In addition to being cross-ideological, we are cross-partisan. Our ranks include Democrats, Republicans, members of third parties, and independents.