Does #rankedchoicevoting Promote #Bipartisanship? Using Maine as a Policy Laboratory

FairVote's Rachel Hutchinson and Professor Ben Reilly discuss their new research paper, "Does Ranked Choice Voting Promote Bipartisanship? Using Maine as a Policy Laboratory."

Hutchinson and Reilly find that bipartisan cosponsorship increased after the adoption of RCV in Maine's swing House district but not its safe district. These results provide an early suggestion that RCV may be more likely to prompt bipartisanship in competitive races.

[paulconey]

RCV and Open Primaries encourage Independents to participate in elections, instead of being frozen out the election by not being able to fully express their election concerns or priorities.

[ericadc]

Is it really a good thing for democracy and for equality and broad prosperity in America that politicians behave in a more centrist and bipartisan way? Since all politics have shifted right, I think we need more courageous leaders who pull leftwards economically in order to have more peace and more shared prosperity. I understand the theory is all about having representatives support their constituents more, which makes sense, but I question bipartisanship as a clear good.