Ranked Choice Voting and Communities of Color Research
Jan 17, 2024
New Report Shows Evidence that Ranked Choice Voting Benefits Candidates and Voters of Color
Ranked choice voting (RCV) has measurable positive impacts for voters and candidates of color, a new FairVote report finds. The report examines 448 ranked choice voting elections across 20 years – a testament to the staggering growth this movement has seen over the last two decades.
Key findings from the report include:
Candidates of color benefit from the RCV counting process, gaining more support as lower-performing candidates are eliminated.
RCV allows several candidates of color to run in the same race without “splitting the vote.”
Voters of color tend to rank more candidates than White voters.
Naturalized citizens and permanent residents support ranked choice voting and proportional representation.
These findings build on research and election data showing that candidates of color are more likely to win RCV contests, and several previous surveys showing high support for RCV among Black and Latino voters.
Watch a 5 min overview of the research findings: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZhSPqfxd0c