New report: California: Ranked-choice voting linked to lower voter turnout <read>
The headline only articulates part of the problem:
The analysis revealed a significant relationship between RCV and decreased turnout among black and white voters, younger voters and voters who lacked a high school education. RCV did not have a significant impact on more experienced voters, who had the highest levels of education and interest in the political process…
Previous studies have shown that ranked-choice ballots tend to increase incorrectly marked ballots (called overvotes) but decrease incompletely marked ballots (called undervotes). Studies have also found high rates of disqualified ballots due to voter errors. In addition, some minority groups were particularly disadvantaged by the RCV process, with correlations between overvotes and both foreign-born voters and those with a primary language other than English.
We have often warned of the problems with Instant Runoff Voting, another name for Ranked Choice Voting. In fact, complexity is one of the three issues we have with IRV <read>
Now we can add two natural consequences of that complexity, lower turnout and the effect of discrimination.
