Approval Voting

How does approval voting work?

Approval voting is simple, and it works great for elections with more than two candidates. Voters can vote for as many candidates as they want. The votes are tallied, and the candidate with the most votes wins!

 

Check it our for yourself:

And this is how the results look:

 

 

Why do we need approval voting?

Why do voters vote at all? They want to win. If they can’t win, they at least want to avoid the worst outcome for themselves. In approval voting, voters can ‘hedge their bets‘ behind multiple options. Bettors do this to maximize the chance of positive outcomes, while minimizing the chance of unwanted outcomes (losing). Approval voting gives voters this same ability, which they don’t have right now.

 

What is approval voting…not?

Approval voting is not ranked choice voting. Here is how these methods compare. Approval voting and ranked choice voting are from two different voting families. So while they both deal with voting, the resemblance ends there. We also say if you like RCV, you can like approval voting, too. Liking multiple things is our thing.

 

 

Where has it been implemented? How old is it?

Approval Voting has been implemented in St. Louis, MO, in 2020, and Fargo, ND, in 2018. Both have had elections since, and approval voting successfully addressed their vote-splitting problems.

However, the act of voting for multiple candidates is as old as democracy itself. Forms of approval voting were initially used in Ancient Greece, Medieval Venice, and during papal conclaves for hundreds of years. The largest diplomatic convening body on Earth, the United Nations, employs approval voting to determine the global Secretary-General. Additionally, organizations like the American Mathematical Society, American Statistical Association and Pro Football Hall of Fame use it today. All these cultures and organizations realized that it’s an effective way to find a consensus leader among several qualified candidates.

As two-party systems dominated the major democracies of Great Britain and the United States, the practice became less necessary for government elections. However, as elections opened up to more candidates and parties, approval voting made a comeback in the 1970s and 1980s. The first organization to focus full-time on advocacy for approval voting started in 2011 (us, The Center for Election Science) and received its first major funding in 2018.

 

Why choose approval voting, especially when there are other options?

We bring up the history of approval voting to highlight that it is a simple, low-tech reform. That’s a good thing:

• It doesn’t add complexity. Just ‘pick-all-you-like’
• It works with all current machines and practices, everywhere. Some small tweaks from your administrators can give your community approval voting.
• Since we all already posess the means of implementation – adoption is incredibly fast and inexpensive – like basically free, inexpensive
• It doesn’t make price or logistics a barrier to better elections
• “Pound-for-pound” its the fastest and most impactful reform out there

How is approval voting better than our current system?

• Voters can always vote for their favorite candidate, whatever their chance of winning
• Voters can more fully express how they feel about each candidate, instead of just one
• No more third party “spoilers” that change election outcomes
• Doesn’t hurt candidates from the same chommunity or similar ideology – in fact it helps 
• Greatly reduces the risk of “vote splitting” problem among similar candidates
• No more voting only for the “lesser-of-two evils”
• Winning candidates will have broader support from voters
• More people will be satisfied with the winner
• Quick to implement at little or no cost – nearly every voting machine in the U.S. can already do approval voting
• Easy to understand results and ballots

How is this better for voters?

Candidates in an approval voting election need to get votes from as many people as possible. To win, candidates need votes from people with differing views.

In the end, more people will feel like their voices are heard and they can be happy with the winner. As well, candidates are discouraged from attacking opponents. Even supporters of rivals can potentially be votes.

Will approval voting result in candidates who don’t have strong positions on policy?

While approval voting does tend to elect more consensus-style candidates, that does not mean that the winning candidate would have no strong positions. Candidates who don’t take strong stances or don’t take stances at all are unlikely to be acceptable to many voters.

What about “one person, one vote”?

No, approval voting doesn’t violate “one person, one vote.” This term actually refers to the weight of each vote, not that every person only gets to vote for one candidate. There are many elections in the US where voters already vote for more than one candidate. For example, elections for school boards or city councils often ask you to vote for as many candidates as there are seats to fill. 

The real meaning of “one person, one vote” is that no individual voter’s ballot should be given more weight than any other—that’s why U.S. Congressional districts represent equal numbers of people. With approval voting, all voters have equal opportunity to vote for as many candidates as they want, and each vote counts the same.

Here’s an example. We have 3 candidates in an election—candidates A, B, and C. 

Person #1 votes for A and B
Person #2 votes for C
Result – Tied! A (1 vote), B (1 vote), C (1 vote) 

The election resulted in a tie! This shows that all of the votes were weighted equally.

What about ties in approval voting? Are they more or less likely?

The short answer: Every city, county, and state has rules for ties. In the event of a tie in approval voting, the administrators would follow the same laws on the books.

But are ties more likely? Mathematicians believe the likelihood of a tie goes down with every new voter participating in an election. Academic Nathaniel Beck figured in a two-person race, with 1,000 participants, there was a 2.5% chance of a tie. With 10,000, there was a 0.8% chance, and so on.

Ties in elections are rare, and there is no evidence to suggest a greater risk of ties with approval voting than our current system.