Category Archives: alternative voting systems

“After Sarah Palin’s election loss, Sen. Tom Cotton calls ranked choice voting ‘a scam'”

September 1, 2022, 7:28 amalternative voting systems, political partiesRick Hasen

NBC News: After Democrat Mary Peltola defeated Sarah Palin in Alaska’s special election Wednesday, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., discredited the voting system used by Alaska voters that they chose to implement in their state.Cotton tweeted that Alaska’s new ranked… Continue reading

New Fairvote Report: Best Practices for Releasing Ranked Choice Voting Election Results

August 11, 2022, 11:02 amalternative voting systemsRick Hasen

Find it here. And more info specifically on Alaska.

Pildes on Ranked Choice Voting

July 15, 2022, 7:08 amalternative voting systems, political polarizationDan Tokaji

Fredreka Schouten of CNN interviews Rick Pildes. Here’s a highlight: RCV … encourages the election of candidates with the broadest electoral appeal. It also makes it likely that candidates who win will have the support of a majority of… Continue reading

The Conservative Case for Proportional Representation

April 29, 2022, 5:37 amalternative voting systems, redistricting, Supreme Court, Voting Rights ActNed Foley

In the wake of New York’s redistricting decision this week, Washington Post columnist Henry Olsen urges Congress to reach a bipartisan agreement to end gerrymandering and offers three ways to do that. All three deserve attention, and I suspect that… Continue reading

Will there be a “spoiler” in 2024?

April 25, 2022, 7:07 amalternative voting systems, electoral college, political partiesNed Foley

Andrew Yang is the guest on the new must-listen episode of Sarah Longwell’s Focus Group podcast. They discuss the possibility of a significant third-party, or independent, candidate in the 2024 presidential race. Yang, who’s started his own Forward Party, essentially… Continue reading

“Survey finds most Americans favor ranked-choice voting”

April 22, 2022, 10:43 amalternative voting systemsRick Hasen

The Fulcrum: More than 60 percent of Americans favor using an alternative method of casting ballots known as ranked-choice voting for federal elections, according to polling data released Wednesday morning.RCV, also known as an instant runoff election, has… Continue reading

The “primary” link between two seemingly different stories

April 21, 2022, 7:13 amalternative voting systems, redistrictingNed Foley

Earlier this morning I blogged about the institutional structure that caused McCarthy and McConnell to cave in response to pressure from their Trump-supporting GOP base. Superficially, one might think that yesterday’s news about the federal court’s decision regarding Ohio’s redistricting… Continue reading

McCarthy & McConnell: The Relevance of Institutions

April 21, 2022, 4:21 amalternative voting systemsNed Foley

This morning’s blockbuster N.Y. Times story by Alex Burns and Jonathan Martin, based on their forthcoming book, raises the question whether Kevin McCarthy and Mitch McConnell would have felt able to act on their immediate instincts after January 6–to… Continue reading

Requiring Majority Winners for Congressional Elections

April 15, 2022, 1:36 pmalternative voting systemsNed Foley

This Q&A with Kevin Kosar, as part of his Electoral Reform Conversations, was a great way to distill the essence of recent scholarship on this topic.

An Electoral Game-Changer?

April 13, 2022, 6:23 pmalternative voting systems, UncategorizedNed Foley

Election Law at Ohio State is pleased to host a webinar An Electoral Game-Changer?: What if Ohio (and other states) used Alaska’s new Ranked Choice Voting system? (You can click on the webinar’s title for full information and a link.)… Continue reading

“How does a movie win a best picture Oscar? There’s a method to the voting madness”

March 27, 2022, 2:37 pmalternative voting systemsDerek Muller

One last post as I wrap up regular blogging this week, from the Los Angeles Times: Also called instant-runoff voting and ranked-choice voting, the preferential ballot is an electoral system used in places around the world — including in … Continue reading

“Alaska’s first ranked-choice election will be a special vote to replace Rep. Don Young”

March 22, 2022, 4:53 amalternative voting systems, legislation and legislaturesDerek Muller

Anchorage Daily News: The new election system approved by Alaska voters in 2020 will get an unexpected first test this summer with a special election to fill the seat left vacant by the death of Congressman Don Young, Alaska’s… Continue reading

Judge Sutton’s new book

February 28, 2022, 4:55 pmalternative voting systems, court decisions, redistrictingNed Foley

This essay focus on the election law implications of the new book by Jeffrey Sutton, Chief Judge of the Sixth Circuit. Bottom line: given all the challenges confronting the operation of the electoral process in the United States currently, now… Continue reading

“Can Alaska Save Democracy?”

February 10, 2022, 7:42 amalternative voting systems, UncategorizedNed Foley

I’ve written this new Washington Post column. A snippet: “[T]he key point is that something like Alaska’s [new electoral system] can liberate America from the threat of Trump and his recruits dismantling democracy. If they no longer can control… Continue reading