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Some literature on ranked choice voting


Dropping these here as a convenient place to keep them.

The issue of ranked choice voting versus first-past-the-post voting is a hot one in Canada right now -- its profile has been raised by former prime minister Justin Trudeau, who appears remorseful about not having done anything to  move the country in the ranked direction. Here is some literature on the controversy. 

Martin Horak (2021)

Adopting Ranked-Choice Voting in London, Ontario. 

Michael Cowan (2025), “Ranking Bad: The Chemistry of Ranked‑Choice Voting.” ResPublica: Undergraduate Journal of Political Science.


Rivard & Lockhart (2022), “Government Preferences, Vote Choice and Strategic Voting in Canada.”  Canadian Journal of Political Science.

  • Examines how voters use expectations about government formation to guide their choices.

  • Highly relevant because strategic voting is one of the main behaviors RCV aims to reduce.

Donovan, Todd, Caroline Tolbert & Kellen Gracey (2019). “Self‑Reported Understanding of Ranked‑Choice Voting.” Social Science Quarterly.

  • Finds that voters quickly learn RCV and report high satisfaction with the system.

  • Supports the argument that Canadians could adopt RCV without major voter confusion.

Christian List & Marcus Pivato (2014). “Emergent Democracy.” Philosophy & Public Affairs, 42(3), 207–236.

  • Explores how relaxing Arrow‑type assumptions can allow for democratic aggregation that avoids impossibility results.

  • Offers one of the most sophisticated “escape routes” from Arrow in contemporary political theory.



Mass Polarization in Canada: What’s Causing It? Why Should We Care? — Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy




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