New or “normal” election? Understanding ranking activity in New York City's first ranked choice voting election

Objective Ranked choice voting [RCV] is currently seeing a spike in interest and is expanding in practice throughout the United States. However, the impacts and effects of RCV in the United States are not well understood and neither are the driving forces behind voters. engagement with it. This article explores what drives a voter's willingness to engage with ranking and to what extent. Methods We use New York City exit poll data to analyze what increased the likelihood of voters to both participate in any ranking activity whatsoever as well as what drove voters to rank several candidates. Using both logistic and ordinal logistic regression we analyze how a voter's engagement with ranking is impacted by their socioeconomic background, their understanding of RCV, and campaign‐centered variables. Results Our results show that wealthier, better educated, white voters who perceived a more positive campaign environment were more likely to engage in ranking. Gender, education, income, campaign tone, and being asked to rank a candidate as second or third are shown to be predictors of a voter's propensity to rank several candidates. Conclusion Voters engage with RCV when they are provided with information on how RCV works and the benefits that come with it. Voters who perceive a more positive campaign environment and are explicitly asked by candidates to include them in their rankings are more likely to maximize their ranking activity. Practitioner Points Ranked choice voting was successfully rolled out in NYC, but more voter education efforts are needed among minority voters. Cultivating a more positive campaign environment can increase participation with ranking activity. Candidates who ask voters to include them in their rankings, even if not the voter's first choice, are likely to be included in that voter's rankings.