Category Archives: alternative voting systems

“Assessing Alaska’s Top-4 Primary and Ranked Choice Voting Electoral Reform: More Moderate Winners, More Moderate Policy”

April 6, 2025, 7:03 amalternative voting systems, political polarizationRick Hasen

Glenn Wright, Ben Reilly and David Lublin have published this article in the Journal of Political Institutions and Political Economy. Here is the abstract: In recent years, ranked choice voting (RCV) has emerged as a leading electoral reform, often in… Continue reading

“New York Mayor Eric Adams to run for reelection as independent”

April 3, 2025, 7:46 amalternative voting systems, chicaneryRick Hasen

WaPo: New York Mayor Eric Adams said Thursday that he would run for reelection as an independent, opting not to participate in the Democratic primary. In a campaign video shared on social media, Adams said that although he remains… Continue reading

April 10 Safeguarding Democracy Project Webinar: “Partisan Primaries, Polarization, and the Risks of Extremism”

March 31, 2025, 4:59 pmalternative voting systems, political parties, political polarizationRick Hasen

Join us for the final SDP webinar of the spring semester, April 10 at 12:15 pm PT (free registration required): Thursday, April 10 Partisan Primaries, Polarization, and the Risks of Extremism Register for the webinar here.Thursday, April… Continue reading

“Report: Deficiencies in Recent Research on Ranked Choice Voting Ballot Error Rates”

March 24, 2025, 7:20 amalternative voting systemsRick Hasen

New from Alan Parry and John Kidd: This report discusses recent research on ranked choice voting (RCV) and ballot error rates. Several studies indicate that ballot error in RCV elections follows the same patterns as error in non-RCV elections. However,… Continue reading

“Overvotes, Overranks, and Skips: Mismarked and Rejected Votes in Ranked Choice Voting”

March 22, 2025, 11:53 amalternative voting systemsDerek Muller

New article from Stephen Pettigrew and Dylan Radley in Political Behavior: Voters express their electoral preferences through their ballot. More states and local jurisdictions are adopting ranked choice voting (RCV), which affects how voter preferences are translated into electoral… Continue reading

Are at-large v. single member district elections affecting how Texas school boards behave?

March 20, 2025, 5:35 amalternative voting systems, redistrictingDerek Muller

Interesting piece at the Texas Tribune.

“Redondo Beach elects new leaders — and makes history with ranked choice voting”

March 18, 2025, 8:05 amalternative voting systems, election administrationDerek Muller

Interesting dive into the election here at the LAist: Results are in from this month’s Redondo Beach election. The South Bay city elected a mayor and other representatives — and pulled off an experiment in ranked-choice voting. Major indicators… Continue reading

“New polling shows most Portlanders prefer ranked choice”

February 24, 2025, 9:21 amalternative voting systemsRick Hasen

Axios: A new poll shows most voters in Portland preferred ranked-choice voting to the city’s previous election method. Why it matters: Previous polling showed the new system was widely understood by most voters, but this survey is the first to… Continue reading

“Reform for Realists: The False Promise of Condorcet Voting”

February 21, 2025, 10:36 amalternative voting systemsRick Hasen

Mike Parsons and Rachel Hutchinson have posted this draft on SSRN. Here is the abstract: As Americans grow disenchanted with democracy, many scholars suggest that election reforms may offer a path forward. The fastest growing of these reforms is ranked… Continue reading

“Kansas bills would end grace period for mail ballots and ban ranked-choice voting”

January 29, 2025, 7:38 amabsentee ballots, alternative voting systemsRick Hasen

Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas’s two election committees are fast at work in the Kansas Statehouse this year and have already had hearings on some of the more controversial election bills being considered. Kansas has taken on a flurry of election security… Continue reading

“The Magnet and the Merry-Go-Round; Why Ranked Choice Voting is superior to Condorcet Voting as a tool for political depolarization”

January 23, 2025, 11:24 amalternative voting systemsRick Hasen

Greg Dennis blogs.

“Ranked Choice Voting May Be a Stepping Stone to Proportional Representation”

January 22, 2025, 10:10 amalternative voting systemsRick Hasen

Eveline Dowling in The Fulcrum: n the 2024 U.S. election, several states did not pass ballot initiatives to implement Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) despite strong majority support from voters under 65. Still, RCV was defended in Alaska,… Continue reading

“Inauguration reflections: why Winner-Take-All is making us all losers”

January 21, 2025, 7:16 amalternative voting systemsRick Hasen

Steven Hill, with the subhead: “The nation has become bitterly divided into opposing camps of winners and losers. It doesn’t have to be this way.”

“How to Fix America’s Two-Party Problem”

January 14, 2025, 8:35 amalternative voting systemsRick Hasen

Jesse Wegman and Lee Drutman in NYT Opinion advocating for proportional representation for Congress.

Election Law Blog

The law of politics and the politics of law