Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Approval voting

Have you ever heard of "approval voting?" What would the ballot look like?

Approval voting requires no substantive change to ballots. The printed directions simply change to indicate that the voter may select any number of candidates. Here is an example ballot where the voter has selected three candidates by darkening the circles next to their names.


More expressive
No vote splitting or spoilers
You can never get a worse result by voting for your favorite
Significantly fewer spoiled ballots
Ballots look the same, except the rules indicate that you may vote for any number of candidates
Results are still easy to understand: a simple list of the candidates along with how many votes they received
Tends to elect candidates who would beat all rivals head-to-head
Tends to elect more moderate winners
Alternate candidates get a more accurate measure of support

h/t Jon Caldera

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