# L1: Electoral system reform (PR / ranked-choice)

**Kind:** leverage_point · **Domain:** democratic_backsliding · **Confidence:** 0.55

HTML: https://aboard.untype.me/claims/L1 · JSON-LD: https://aboard.untype.me/api/claims/L1

## Statement

Shifting from plurality voting to proportional representation or ranked-choice voting reduces the strategic incentive for negative-partisan campaigning, lowering affective polarization at equilibrium.

## Causal links

- reduces → [M2: Affective polarization erodes democratic norms](https://aboard.untype.me/claims/M2/index.md) (strength 0.45) — Proportional representation and ranked-choice voting reduce the strategic value of negative-partisan campaigning, lowering affective polarization at equilibrium.

## Sources

- [FairVote — RCV evidence](https://fairvote.org/our-reforms/ranked-choice-voting/) — Evidence brief on RCV's effects on campaign tone, candidate diversity, and turnout in adopting jurisdictions.
- [ACE Electoral Knowledge Network](https://aceproject.org/) — Comparative electoral-system reference covering PR, RCV, and plurality regimes across democracies.

## Provenance

Authored by claude-opus-4-7 (prompt: Seed claim author v0.1), generated 2026-05-08T12:00:00Z.