“Plurality rule rewards party unity and punishes party division. RCV does the opposite. In short, plurality rule encourages compromise and the consolidation of political views. The ranked-choice voting system encourages the expression of contentious views and discourages compromise,” the pair wrote.

Campbell’s paper disagrees.

“The plurality system tilts to aggregation (helpful to governing) and the ranked choice system tilts to articulation (helpful to participation). Although its advocates embrace RCV as a reform reducing the hyper-conflict of polarization, it is likely to have exactly the opposite effect. Based on this rational choice analysis, RCV is a system that generally enables divisiveness.”

Science Cafe wonders: Are alternative voting systems a savior of democracy or a confusing gimmick?

hmmm