Ranked-Choice Voting as Reprieve from the Court-Ordered Map

Authors

Benjamin P. Lempert, University of Michigan Law School

Abstract

Thus far, legal debates about the rise of ranked-choice voting have centered on whether legislatures can lawfully adopt the practice. This Note turns attention to the courts and the question of remedies. It proposes that courts impose ranked-choice voting as a redistricting remedy. Ranked-choice voting allows courts to cure redistricting violations without also requiring that they draw copious numbers of districts, a process the Supreme Court has described as a “political thicket.” By keeping courts away from the fact-specific, often arbitrary judgments involved in redistricting, ranked-choice voting makes for the redistricting remedy that best protects the integrity of the judicial role.

Recommended Citation

Benjamin P. Lempert, Ranked-Choice Voting as Reprieve from the Court-Ordered Map, 119 Mich. L. Rev. 1785 (2021).
Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol119/iss8/5