Why Should We Use Approval Voting in Public Elections?

The benefits of Approval Voting are plentiful:

• cleaner campaigns;
• no "wasted vote syndrome";
• no "spoilers";
• more voter choices;
• more acceptable winners;
• runoffs are unnecessary saving time and money;
• and many more.

You can read about these benefits on the Citizens for Approval Voting website.

What is not discussed on that website and which we will discuss here is the specific impact of Approval Voting on specific types of public elections. As it turns out, not all public elections are created equal. There are specific characteristics of certain types of elections that increase the value of Approval Voting. This is important to understand because voters and politicians will probably insist that Approval Voting be used in some elections and develop a solid track record before entertaining the idea of switching to it for all elections.

Before jumping into this discussion, please note that we believe that Approval Voting is the preferred system for all single winner public elections. Having said that, there are some types of elections where it is particularly valuable. Let's take a look...