Carlo Prato (Columbia University)

Politics Transformed? Electoral Competition under Ranked Choice Voting 

Abstract. We compare multi-candidate elections under plurality rule versus ranked-choice voting (RCV). In our framework, candidates choose either a narrow platform to mobilize their core supporters, or a broad platform to persuade voters beyond their base. We present two main results comparing plurality and RCV. First, RCV can intensify candidates’ incentives to target their core supporters with narrow policies at the cost of a broader appeal. Second, RCV may increase the probability that a candidate who would lose any pairwise contest nonetheless wins a multi-candidate contest.

Joint with Seminars in Politics