Other Parties and Approval Voting

Third party supporters have much to gain from Approval Voting although they also give up the ability to sway close elections. Let's take a look.

With Approval Voting third party voters would be able to vote for their favorite candidate without giving up the right to weigh in on the front runners as well. This means that more voters would likely be willing to express their support for the third party. From the perspective of these voters, who are currently disenfranchised by the plurality voting system, this is a major step forward.

Furthermore, third party candidates would, for the first time, get election results that closely reflects the true level of support of the voters. This is important for measuring how well the party and candidates are doing at spreading their message.

These are such major positives that it is not surprising that many third party advocates are enthusiastic about Approval Voting. However third parties will have to give something up as well. For one thing, third party candidates could no longer play a role as "spoiler" and directly impact who wins an election by entering or leaving a particular race. In that sense the minor parties would be giving up one of their most powerful weapons in order to get the benefits of Approval Voting.

Another drawback for minor parties is that they will no longer have an excuse if their candidates perform poorly. A level playing field means that candidates that lose really badly have to face the facts that their message has been soundly rejected. Then they will have to change that message or find some other way to attract support for their ideas.