Rate of “Bullet Voting” Depends on Candidate Strength, Party Cues, and Other Factors

Posted on August 16, 2021

Many factors likely influence how a voter uses their rankings in a ranked choice voting (RCV) election. As of 2021, the median portion of voters who choose to use multiple rankings on their ballot is 68%. In this post we briefly discuss two factors that affect rank usage: voters’ perceptions of candidate strength and a candidate or party messaging encouraging or discouraging use of rankings.