Ranked-Choice Voting and Political Expression: How Voting Aids Narrow the Gap between Informed and Uninformed Citizens

Abstract

The implementation of ranked-choice voting (RCV) systems across the United States anticipates several benefits. For citizens, the ability to rank multiple candidates yields increased opportunities for political expression. Taking advantage of these opportunities, however, requires both more effort by citizens and more information about candidates. What types of citizens will benefit from the greater opportunity for political expression afforded by RCV systems? We address this question by conducting an experiment in the context of the 2020 general election in San Francisco. In the experiment, we randomly assign the electoral rules (single-choice versus ranked-choice) that govern citizen decision-making and the provision of political information (a voter guide summarizing candidates’ policy positions versus no information). We assess whether respondents use the choices available to them and the extent to which they choose / rank candidates whose policy views are similar to their own.

Our results indicate that a majority of respondents in the ranked-choice setting take advantage of the increased opportunities for political expression. Nonetheless, uninformed respondents (i.e., those who know relatively little about local politics) are significantly less likely than informed respondents to rank multiple candidates and use all of their allotted rankings. The rankings of uninformed respondents are also more weakly related to their own policy views. Providing an issue-oriented voter guide increases the share of uninformed respondents who use their allotted rankings, and strengthens the relationship between respondents’ candidate rankings and their policy views. Together, these results indicate that the benefits of RCV elections may not be fully realized by all types of citizens. Providing citizens with accessible forms of political information, such as an issue-oriented voter guide, can reduce these disparities and help citizens make more and potentially better informed choices.

Keywords: ranked choice voting, local elections, survey experiment, voter education, citizen competence