Ranked Choice Voting Endorsements
Support for Ranked Choice Voting
Ranked choice voting has drawn support as a sensible solution to problems with our elections, with backers including leading newspapers, political leaders, electoral reform commissions and organizations. Here is a sample of that support that focuses in particular on the single-winner form of ranked choice voting — also known as “instant runoff voting.” (We invite you to add your own name, and we'll create a new page soon to feature people from around the USA.)
Academic Authorities Recommending Ranked Choice Voting
In 2020 (unless otherwise noted), the scholars listed below endorsed the following statement in support of expanded use of the single-winner, "instant runoff" form of ranked choice voting as adopted in Maine in 2016: “I support greater use of ranked choice voting for federal, state, and local elections in the United States.”
Winners of Nobel Prize
- Peter Diamond, MIT (2010 award in economic sciences)
- Oliver Hart, Harvard (2016 award in economic sciences)
- Eric Maskin, Harvard University (2007 award in economic sciences)
- Roger Myerson, University of Chicago (2007 award in economic sciences)
- William Nordhaus, Yale University (2018 award in economic sciences)
- Edmund Phelps, Columbia University (2006 award in economic sciences)
- Robert Shiller, Yale University (2013 award in economic sciences)
Winners of Johan Skytte Prize ("The Nobel for political science")
- Robert Axelrod, University of Michigan (2013 winner)
- Francis Fukuyama, Freeman Spogli Institute for Intl. Studies, Stanford (2015 winner)
- Peter Joachim Katzenstein, Cornell University (2020 winner)
- Robert Keohane, Princeton University (2005 winner)
- Arend Lijphart, University of California - San Diego (1997 winner)
- Jane Mansbridge, Harvard University (2018 winner)
- Robert Putnam, Harvard University (2006 winner)
- Philippe Schmitter, European University Institute (2009 winner)
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Rein Taagepera, University of California - Irvine (2008 winner)
Scholars on democracy, elections and mathematics
- Alan Abramowitz, Emory University
- Danielle Allen, Harvard University
- Nikolas Bowie, Harvard Law School
- Shaun Bowler, University of California-Riverside
- Charles Bullock, University of Georgia
- Barry Burden, University of Wisconsin
- John Carey, Dartmouth College
- Rachael Cobb, Suffolk University
- Michael Crespin, University of Oklahoma
- Larry Diamond, Stanford University
- Todd Donovan, Western Washington University
- Joshua Douglas, University of Kentucky College of Law
- David Farrell, University College Dublin
- Caroline Frederickson, 2020 Georgetown Law distinguished visitor
- Keith Gaddie, University of Oklahoma
- William Galston, Brookings Institution
- Nicholas Goedert, Lafayette College
- Paul Gronke, Reed College & 2020 Carnegie Fellow
- Bob Holmes, Clark Atlanta University (emeritus)
- Mark Jones, Rice University
- Pam Karlan, Stanford Law School
- Phil Keisling, former Oregon Secretary of State / Center for Public Service at Portland State Univ.
- Alex Keyssar, Harvard University
- David Kimball, University of Missouri-St. Louis
- Douglas Kriner, Cornell University
- Didi Kuo, Freeman Spogli Institute for Intl. Studies, Stanford
- Michael Latner, California Polytechnic State University
- Lawrence Lessig, Harvard Law School
- Justin Levitt, Loyola Law School
- David Lublin, American University
- Sandy Maisel, Colby College
- Alan Butler Morrison, George Washington Law School
- Steven Mulroy, University of Memphis Law School
- Jack Nagel, University of Pennsylvania (emeritus)
- G. Bingham Powell, University of Rochester (former APSA president)
- Miles Rapoport, Harvard Kennedy School (former Connecticut Secretary of State)
- Ronald Rapoport, College of William and Mary (emeritus)
- John Rapp, Beloit College (emeritus)
- Benjamin Reilly, University of Western Australia
- Andrew Reynolds, Princeton University
- Jonathan Rodden, Stanford University
- Mark Rush, Washington and Lee University
- Matthew Shugart, University of California-Davis (emeritus)
- Nicholas Stephanopoulos, Harvard Law School
- James Thurber, American University
- Caroline Tolbert, University of Iowa
- Franita Tolson, University of Southern California Law School
- Ismar Volić, Wellesley College
- Sam Wang, Princeton University
- Tova Wang, Harvard Kennedy School
Newspapers & Magazines
(last updated Nov. 2020; additional editorials here):
- The New York Times with a general position in 2018 and with a position in support of RCV for presidential primaries in 2020
- The Washington Post in a long series of editorials, including this editorial about city council elections in 2020 and this editorial focused on Maryland and Virginia in 2019
- The Boston Globe in a general editorial in 2018 and in favor of a state ballot measure in 2020
- The Economist magazine in 2018
- Publications in cities with RCV, including the Portland Press Herald (2011), Santa Fe New Mexican (2018) and Minneapolis Star Tribune (in 2016)
National Political Leaders
- Both major party presidential nominees in 2008 had taken leadership roles in supporting RCV, including in this radio ad in 2002 by Sen. John McCain (R) and this pro-RCV legislation sponsored by Barack Obama in 2002
- Major party presidential candidates have backed ranked choice voting, including in: these video clips from Bernie Sanders (in 2019) and Andrew Yang (in 2019); these op-eds from Elizabeth Warren (n 2020), Howard Dean (in 2016) and Bill Weld (in 2020) and the leadership role and public statements of Deval Patrick and John Kerry in a 2020 ballot measure campaign
- Minor party presidential candidates supporting ranked choice voting in the 2000's include: Libertarian Party nominees Gary Johnson and Jo Jorgensen; Green Party nominees Jill Stein, Howie Hawkins, Ralph Nader, Cynthia McKinney and David Cobb; and independent Evan McMullin
- Former Minnesota governor Arne Carlson (R) and U.S. Senator Dave Durenberger coauthored this 2020 oped supporting ranked choice voting in their state.
- In 2020, Utah governor Gary Herbert (R) explained his support for ranked choice voting for primaries in this TV news story In 2019, Maine governor Janet Mills (D) explained her approval of legislation to expand RCV to presidential elections.
- Hundreds of state legislators and Members of Congress have sponsored ranked choice voting legislation
Authors and Thought Leaders
- Featured recommendation in final report of the Academy of Arts and Science’s Commission on the Practice of Democratic Citizenship in 2020
- League of Women Voters positions after studies in more than 10 states
- Author Malcolm Gladwell in 2019
- Harvard Business School professor Michael Porter in 2020 book with businesswoman Katherine Gehl
- Danielle Allen, Director of Harvard’s Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics in 2020 column
- Television host and comedian Hasan Minhaj in 2020 TV special
- Scholar Larry Diamond in 2018 article
- Analyst Briahna Joy Gray in 2018 commentary
- Political commentator Ben Shapiro in 2020 TV show
- Harvard law professor Larry Lessig in this 2019 column
- American Enterprise Institute’s Norm Ornstein in 2017 book with EJ Dionne & Thomas Mann
- Washington Post columnist Henry Olsen in 2020 column
- New York Times columnist David Brooks in 2018 column
- Fox political analyst Chris Stirewalt in 2018 TV interview
- Author Bill McKibben in 2020 column
- Santa Claus, City Council Member, North Pole, Alaska, in 2020 (true story)
- The Talking Heads' David Byrne (2020), Phish's Jon Fishman (2020) and Nirvana's Krist Novoselic (2018) in interviews
