Within Their Ranks: Ranked Choice Voting Reform and Intra-Party Coalition Management

Abstract In 2020, voters in Massachusetts rejected a ballot measure which would have enacted a ranked choice voting (RCV) system. Voters in Alaska narrowly supported a state initiative which adopts the preference-based electoral reform. Despite these mixed outcomes, evidence suggests that the RCV movement is gaining momentum in the American states. Building upon municipal efforts, state legislators in Minnesota and Utah have proposed statewide adoption. While previous research has examined the possible effects of ranked choice voting reforms, much less has been written about the causes of ranked choice voting campaigns. Using four illustrative state-level case studies, we find that sub-national campaigns for RCV reform are motivated by attempts to manage intra-party coalitional disputes in both dominant party systems (Massachusetts and Utah) and in fragmented party systems (Alaska and Minnesota) via this minimally disruptive electoral system change.