Why CES Advocates for Approval Voting Instead of RCV

At this time, The Center for Election Science only advocates for approval voting. CES considered multiple factors when making this decision. These are the seven criteria we gauge, and how each method stacks up. 

1. Clear, Simple & Accessible Processes

   • AV - Any voter can say who’s acceptable and who’s not. It is the simplest threshold, and most akin to how everyday voters think about elections. 

   • RCV - The complexity of marking, counting, and redistributing votes creates too many opportunities for errors or misunderstandings. 

     
     

2. Accurate, Prompt & Transparent Results

   • AV - Everyone can see clearly where their vote went, how it impacted the outcome, and how the winner was determined. Votes can be counted as soon as they arrive. All will have the same sense of the status of race on Election Night as exists now. Results are accurate, and recounts are fast.  

   • RCV - RCV’s main issue is in the complex, slow, and opaque counting process. The rounds of multiple transfers can make it very difficult to follow where a voter’s vote actually landed. Votes cannot be counted until all are received, leading to long delays. Even a few lost mail-in ballots can alter the outcome if counting begins too early, changing the winner. The issues are not acceptable given today’s climate of election distrust.

     
     

3. Representativeness & Fairness

   • AV - Approval voting does not favor any group, instead it finds where the area of agreement is among the entire electorate. It facilitates representation by not penalizing candidates who come from similar groups.

   • RCV - RCV does not inherently favor any group ,despite what may be claimed. However, vote-splitting is still possible, and can disadvantage candidates who are similar. 

     
     

4. Compatibility & Cost

   • AV - Approval voting is compatible with all current machines. This means approval elections can be run immediately, and this compatibility keeps implementation costs very low. Money, time or machines are not barriers to implementing approval voting. 

   • RCV - RCV doesn’t have the same universal capability. New machines, more complex ballots, and more staff time needed means implementing RCV means incurring new costs for already under-funded elections systems.

     
     

5. Takes Away the Hyperpartisan’s Advantage

   • AV - Approval voting removes the hyperpartisan’s advantage that comes from vote-splitting. Voters have multiple, clear strategies to stop hyperpartisans by approving multiple candidates.

   • RCV - Hyperpartisans can still win via vote-splitting. Ranking strategies to stop a hyperpartisan victory can be very complex, even counterintuitive, and are not reasonable or clear enough for the everyday voter.

     
     

6. Makes a Vote Meaningful & Voters More Powerful

   • AV - Voters can support all the candidates they align with, no longer trapped by binary choices. Every voter now clearly becomes a potential new vote for all who connect with them. Candidates need to pay attention to all voters or risk losing their votes.

   • RCV - Candidates will take being a voter's 2nd or 3rd choice, but they still need 1st place votes. First place selections are essentially the same as plurality votes, as they are mutually exclusive. Campaigns can still write off whole groups of voters because they believe they will not get their 1st place votes.

     
     

7. Vote Splitting

   • AV - Vote splitting is eliminated in approval voting elections. The “spoiler effect” is negated.

RCV - Vote-splitting is still possible in every round. In the 2022 Alaska congressional election, two Republicans and a Democrat ran. Despite 60% of voters preferring a Republican, their votes split between the two candidates. This fragmentation allowed the Democrat, initially with only 40% support, to win.