The Voting series:
This series is part of the Politics and the Election series Voting is a method of decision making wherein a group such as a meeting or an electorate attempts to gauge its opinion—usually as a final step following discussions or debates. ... Image File history File links Vote_icon. ... Politics is the process by which groups make decisions. ... An election is a decision making process where people choose people to hold official offices. ...
Voting Voting system Ballot Vote counting system Approval voting Bloc voting Borda count Condorcet method Coombs' method Copeland's method Cumulative voting D'Hondt method Droop Quota Dynamically Distributed Democracy Election threshold Hare Quota Highest averages method Instant-runoff voting Largest remainder method Party list Plurality voting Preferential voting Proportional approval voting Range voting Sainte-Laguë method Schulze method Single Transferable Vote Spoilt vote
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On an approval ballot, the voter can vote for any number of candidates.

Approval voting is a voting system used for elections, in which each voter can vote for as many or as few candidates as the voter chooses. It is typically used for single-winner elections, but can be extended to multiple winners. (However, multi-winner Approval voting does not return proportional results.) Approval voting is a limited form of range voting, where the range that voters are allowed to express is extremely constrained: accept or not. Voting is a method of decision making wherein a group such as a meeting or an electorate attempts to gauge its opinion—usually as a final step following discussions or debates. ... A voting system is a means of choosing between a number of options, based on the input of a number of voters. ... A ballot is a device used to record choices made by voters. ... There exist various methods through which the ballots cast at an election may be counted, prior to applying a voting system to obtain one or more winners. ... Bloc voting (or block voting) (also called Plurality-at-large) refers to a class of voting systems which can be used to elect several representatives from a single constituency. ... The Borda count is a single winner election method in which voters rank candidates in order of preference. ... Any election method conforming to the Condorcet criterion is known as a Condorcet method. ... The Coombs method, created by Clyde Coombs, is a voting system used for single-winner elections in which each voter rank-orders the candidates. ... Copelands method is a Condorcet method in which the winner is determined by finding the candidate with the most pairwise victories. ... A points method ballot design like this one is the most common for governmental elections using cumulative voting. ... The DHondt method is a highest averages method for allocating seats in party-list proportional representation. ... The Droop quota is the quota most commonly used in elections held under the Single Transferable Vote (STV) system. ... Dynamically Distributed Democracy (DDD) uses a social network data structure as a means of a creating a holographic model of the voting behavior of the whole group within any subset of the population that is actively participating in the groups voting process. ... In party-list proportional representation systems, an election threshold is a clause that stipulates that a party must receive a minimum percentage of votes, either nationally or within a particular district, to get any seats in the parliament. ... The Hare quota is a formula used to calculate the minimum number, or quota, of votes required to capture a seat in some forms of single transferable vote or largest remainder method party-list proportional representation voting systems. ... The highest averages method is one way of allocating seats proportionally for representative assemblies with party list voting systems. ... Example ballot Instant-runoff voting (IRV) (also known as the Alternative Vote (AV) and by several other names) is an voting system used for single winner elections in which voters rank candidates in order of preference. ... The largest remainder method is one way of allocating seats proportionally for representative assemblies with party list voting systems. ... Party lists are used in elections to legislatures which use Party-list proportional representation or additional member proportional representation to designate a partys nominees in the at-large portion of the vote. ... The first-past-the-post electoral system is a voting system for single-member districts, variously called first-past-the-post (FPTP or FPP), winner-take-all, plurality voting, or relative majority. ... Preferential voting (or preference voting) is a type of ballot structure used in several electoral systems in which voters rank a list or group of candidates in order of preference. ... Proportional approval voting (PAV) is a theoretical voting system for multiple-winner elections, in which each voter can vote for as many or as few candidates as the voter chooses. ... Range voting (also called ratings summation, average voting, cardinal ratings, 0–99 voting, or the score system or point system) is a theoretical voting system for single-seat elections in which voters score each candidate, the scores are added up, and the candidate with the highest score wins. ... The Sainte-Laguë method of the highest average (sometimes identified with Websters method or divisor method with standard rounding) is one way of allocating seats proportionally for representative assemblies with party list voting systems. ... The Schulze method is a voting system developed in 1997 by Markus Schulze that selects a single winner using votes that express preferences. ... This STV ballot for the Australian Senate illustrates group voting tickets. ... In voting, a ballot paper is considered to be spoilt, void, or null if it is regarded by the election authorities to contain irregularities during vote counting, and hence cannot be recorded as a valid vote. ... Image File history File links Approval_ballot. ... Image File history File links Approval_ballot. ... A voting system is a means of choosing between a number of options, based on the input of a number of voters. ... An election is a decision making process where people choose people to hold official offices. ... Proportional representation (sometimes referred to as full representation, or PR), is an electoral system delivering a close match between the percentage of votes that groups of candidates (grouped by a certain measure) obtain in elections and the percentage of seats they receive (usually in legislative assemblies). ... Range voting (also called ratings summation, average voting, cardinal ratings, 0–99 voting, or the score system or point system) is a theoretical voting system for single-seat elections in which voters score each candidate, the scores are added up, and the candidate with the highest score wins. ...

Approval Voting is merely standard PluralityVoting without the rule discarding ballots with overvotes. Thus Approval Voting would be very easy to implement, no changes in vote-counting equipment would be required, since voting machines must already be able to handle elections where the voter may vote for more than one.

Approval was advocated in 1968 and 1977 by Guy Ottewell. The term "Approval voting" was first coined by Robert J. Weber in 1976, but was fully devised in 1977 and published in 1978 by political scientist Steven Brams and mathematician Peter Fishburn. Historically, something resembling Approval voting for candidates was used in the Republic of Venice during the 13th century and for Parliamentary elections in 19th century England. Also, the UN uses a process somewhat similar to Approval Voting to elect the Secretary General. Robert J. Weber (born 1947) is the Frederic E. Nemmers Distinguished Professor of Decision Sciences at the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Northwestern University. ... Steven J. Brams (born November 28, 1940) is a political scientist and professor at New York University. ... Peter C. Fishburn (1936_) is known as a pioneer in the field of decision making processes. ... Map of the Venetian Republic, circa 1000 CE. The republic is in dark red, borders in light red. ... Motto: (French for God and my right) Anthem: God Save the King/Queen Capital London Largest city London Official language(s) English (de facto) Unification    - by Athelstan AD 927  Area    - Total 130,395 km² (1st in UK)   50,346 sq mi  Population    - 2005 est. ...

Although proposed in nations like the United States, it currently is not used in any public elections. One political barrier is its failure to meet the majority criterion. The majority criterion is a voting system criterion, used to objectively compare voting systems. ...

Procedures

Each voter may vote for as many options as he or she chooses, at most once per option. This is equivalent to saying that each voter may "approve" or "disapprove" each option by voting or not voting for it, and it's also equivalent to voting +1 or 0 in a range voting system.

The votes for each option are tallied. The option with the most votes wins.

Example

Imagine that the population of Tennessee, a state in the United States, is voting on the location of its capital. The population of Tennessee is concentrated around its four major cities, which are spread throughout the state. For this example, suppose that the entire electorate lives in one of these four cities, and that they would like the capital to be established as close to their city as possible. Image File history File links Tennessee_map_for_voting_example. ... Official language(s) English Capital Nashville Largest city Memphis Largest metro area Nashville Area  Ranked 36th  - Total 42,169 sq mi (109,247 km²)  - Width 120 miles (195 km)  - Length 440 miles (710 km)  - % water 2. ... In politics, a capital (also called capital city or political capital — although the latter phrase has a second meaning based on an alternative sense of capital) is the principal city or town associated with a countrys government. ... In politics, an electorate is the group of people entitled to vote in an election. ...

The candidates for the capital are:

• Memphis, the state's largest city, with 42% of the voters, but located far from the other cities
• Nashville, with 26% of the voters
• Knoxville, with 17% of the voters
• Chattanooga, with 15% of the voters

The preferences of the voters would be divided like this: Flag Seal Nickname: The River City, The Bluff City, M-Town Location Location in Shelby County and the state of Tennessee Coordinates , Government Country State Counties United States Tennessee Shelby County Mayor W. W. Herenton (D) Geographical characteristics Area     City 294. ... Nickname: Music City Location in Davidson County and the state of Tennessee Coordinates: Country United States State Tennessee Counties Davidson County Founded: 1779 Incorporated: 1806 Mayor Bill Purcell (D) Area    - City 526. ... Nickname: The Marble City, K-Town, Big Orange Country, Knox Vegas Location within the U.S. State of Tennessee Coordinates: Cities in Tennessee Tennessee Mayor Bill Haslam (R) Area    - City 254. ... Nickname: Scenic City (official), Chatt-Town, River City, Chatty, Chattavegas, The Noog Location within the U.S. State of Tennessee Cities in Tennessee Tennessee Mayor Ron Littlefield Area    - City 370. ...

Supposing that voters voted for their two favorite candidates and that Tennessee has 100 residents, the results would be as follows (a more sophisticated approach to voting is discussed below): Official language(s) English Capital Nashville Largest city Memphis Largest metro area Nashville Area  Ranked 36th  - Total 42,169 sq mi (109,247 km²)  - Width 120 miles (195 km)  - Length 440 miles (710 km)  - % water 2. ...

• Memphis: 42 total votes
• Nashville: 68 total votes (wins)
• Chattanooga: 58 total votes
• Knoxville: 32 total votes

Potential for tactical voting

Approval voting passes the monotonicity criterion, in that voting for a candidate never lowers that candidate's chance of winning. Indeed, there is never a reason for a voter to tactically vote for a candidate X without voting for all candidates he or she prefers to candidate X. It is also never necessary for a voter to vote for a candidate liked less than X in order to elect X. Thus, after a voter has decided on his preferences, he only needs to decide on how many candidates he will vote: in the case of n candidates he votes on his k most favorite candidates, where k with 0 < k < n has to be decided upon (k = 0 or n is useless anyway). If the voter thinks that the two candidates with the most votes are those which are on positions p and q on his list of decreasing preference, with p < q, he should choose k between p and q, i.e., vote for p but not for q. A voting system is monotonic if it satisfies the monotonicity criterion, given below. ... In voting systems, tactical voting (or strategic voting) occurs when a voter misrepresents his or her sincere preferences in order to gain a more favorable outcome. ...

As approval voting does not offer a single method of expressing sincere preferences, but rather a plethora of them, voters are encouraged to analyze their fellow voters' preferences and use that information to decide which candidates to vote for. This feature of approval voting makes it difficult for theoreticians to predict how approval will play out in practice.

One possible tactic is that a voter will only approve of their first preference candidate; this will make it more difficult for other candidates to win. If every voter uses this tactic, then the election essentially turns into a first-past-the-post election, where the candidate with the largest plurality of first preference supporters wins. The first-past-the-post electoral system is a voting system for single-member districts, variously called first-past-the-post (FPTP or FPP), winner-take-all, plurality voting, or relative majority. ...

One tactic is to vote for every candidate the voter prefers to the leading candidate, and to also vote for the leading candidate if that candidate is preferred to the current second-place candidate (see also above). When all voters use this tactic, there is a good chance that the Condorcet winner will be elected. Approval voting fails to satisfy the Condorcet criterion. It is even possible that a Condorcet loser can be elected. Any election method conforming to the Condorcet criterion is known as a Condorcet method. ... The Condorcet candidate or Condorcet winner of an election is the candidate who, when compared in turn with each of the other candidates, is preferred over the other candidate. ...

In the above election, if Chattanooga is perceived as the strongest challenger to Nashville, voters from Nashville will only vote for Nashville, because it is the leading candidate and they prefer no alternative to it. Voters from Chattanooga and Knoxville will withdraw their support from Nashville, the leading candidate, because they do not support it over Chattanooga. The new results would be:

• Memphis: 42
• Nashville: 68
• Chattanooga: 32
• Knoxville: 32

If, however, Memphis were perceived as the strongest challenger, voters from Memphis would withdraw their votes from Nashville, whereas voters from Chattanooga and Knoxville would support Nashville over Memphis. The results would then be:

• Memphis: 42
• Nashville: 58
• Chattanooga: 32
• Knoxville: 32

Effect on elections

The effect of this system as an electoral reform measure is not without critics. Instant-runoff voting advocates like the Center for Voting and Democracy argue that Approval Voting would lead to the election of "lowest common denominator" candidates disliked by few, and liked by few, but this could also be seen as an inherent strength against demagoguery in favor of a discreet popularity. A study by Approval advocates Steven Brams and Dudley R. Herschbach published in Science in 2001 ^[1] argued that approval voting was "fairer" than preference voting on a number of criteria. They claimed that a close analysis shows that the hesitation to support a lesser evil candidate to the same degree as one supports one's first choice actually outweighs the extra votes that such second choices get. Electoral reform projects seek to change the way that public desires are reflected in elections through electoral systems. ... Example ballot Instant-runoff voting (IRV) (also known as the Alternative Vote (AV) and by several other names) is an voting system used for single winner elections in which voters rank candidates in order of preference. ... ... Steven J. Brams (born November 28, 1940) is a political scientist and professor at New York University. ... Dudley Robert Herschbach (born June 18, 1932), a chemist and Frank B. Baird Jr. ... Science is the journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). ... Preferential voting (or preference voting) is a type of ballot structure used in several electoral systems in which voters rank a list or group of candidates in order of preference. ...

One study ^[2] showed that approval voting would not have chosen the same two winners as plurality voting (Chirac and Le Pen) in France's presidential election of 2002 (first round) - it instead would have chosen Chirac and Jospin. This seems a more reasonable result since Le Pen was a radical who lost to Chirac by an enormous margin in the second round. The 2002 French presidential election consisted of a first round election on 21 April 2002, and a runoff election between the top two candidates (Jacques Chirac and Jean-Marie Le Pen) on 5 May 2002. ...

Other issues and comparisons

Advocates of approval voting often note that a single simple ballot can serve for single, multiple, or negative choices. It requires the voter to think carefully about who or what they really accept, rather than trusting a system of tallying or compromising by formal ranking or counting. Compromises happen but they are explicit, and chosen by the voter, not by the ballot counting. Some features of approval voting include:

• Unlike Condorcet method, instant-runoff voting, and other methods that require ranking candidates, approval voting does not require significant changes in ballot design, voting procedures or equipment, and it is easier for voters to use and understand. This reduces problems with mismarked ballots, disputed results and recounts.
• It provides less incentive for negative campaigning than many other systems, through the same incentive as instant runoff voting, condorcet method, and Borda count.
• It allows voters to express tolerances but not preferences. Some political scientists consider this a major advantage, especially where acceptable choices are more important than popular choices.
• Each voter may vote as many times as they wish, at most once per candidate. This is equivalent to saying that each voter may approve or disapprove each candidate by voting or not voting for them, and it's also equivalent to voting +1 or 0 in a range voting system.
• It is easily reversed as disapproval voting where a choice is disavowed, as is already required in other measures in politics (e.g. representative recall).
• In contentious elections with a super-majority of voters who prefer their favorite candidate vastly over all others, approval voting tends to revert to plurality voting. Some voters will support only their single favored candidate when they perceive the other candidates to be poor compromises.
• Approval voting fails the majority criterion, so that the favorite candidate of a majority can fail to be elected.

Any election method conforming to the Condorcet criterion is known as a Condorcet method. ... Example ballot Instant-runoff voting (IRV) (also known as the Alternative Vote (AV) and by several other names) is an voting system used for single winner elections in which voters rank candidates in order of preference. ... Negative campaigning is trying to win an advantage by referring to negative aspects of an opponent or of a policy rather than emphasizing ones own positive attributes or preferred policies. ... When the single transferable vote voting system is applied to a single-winner election it is sometimes called instant-runoff voting (IRV), as it is much like holding a series of runoff elections in which the lowest polling candidate is eliminated in each round until someone receives majority vote. ... Any election method conforming to the Condorcet criterion is known as a Condorcet method. ... The Borda count is a single winner election method in which voters rank candidates in order of preference. ... Range voting (also called ratings summation, average voting, cardinal ratings, 0–99 voting, or the score system or point system) is a theoretical voting system for single-seat elections in which voters score each candidate, the scores are added up, and the candidate with the highest score wins. ... Disapproval voting is any voting system that allows many voters to express formal disapproval simultaneously, in a system where they all share some power. ... A recall election is a procedure by which voters can remove an elected official from office. ... The first-past-the-post electoral system is a voting system for single-member districts, variously called first-past-the-post (FPTP or FPP), winner-take-all, plurality voting, or relative majority. ... The majority criterion is a voting system criterion, used to objectively compare voting systems. ...

Multiple winners

Approval voting can be extended to multiple winner elections, either as block approval voting, a simple variant on block voting where each voter can select an unlimited number of candidates and the candidates with the most approval votes win, or as proportional approval voting which seeks to maximise the overall satisfaction with the final result using approval voting. That first system has been called minisum to distinguish it from minimax, a system which uses approval ballots and aims to elect the slate of candidates that differs from the least-satisfied voter's ballot as little as possible. Bloc voting (or block voting) (also called Plurality-at-large) refers to a class of voting systems which can be used to elect several representatives from a single constituency. ... Proportional approval voting (PAV) is a theoretical voting system for multiple-winner elections, in which each voter can vote for as many or as few candidates as the voter chooses. ...

Approval polling

Approval voting can also be used to voting or polling questions which allow a variable number of winners.

A clear example is the question of candidate inclusion for debates. An approval poll would be better to ask: "Which candidates do you want to see in the debate?" rather than the usual polling question: "Who would you vote for if the election was today?"

In such a poll, a fixed threshold for inclusion could be made. For example, a debate could include all candidates above 15% approval support. Special rules would be needed to guarantee at least 2 candidates passing, possibly simply including all of candidates.

The advantage of approval polling is that voter have no fear that "overvoting" will hurt their higher choices. Undecided voters will tend to want to hear from more candidates early in the campaign, and will tend to reduce their preferences as voting day approaches.

Relation to effectiveness of choices

Operations research has shown that the effectiveness of a policy and thereby a leader who sets several policies will be sigmoidally related to the level of approval associated with that policy or leader.^{[citation needed]} There is an acceptance level below which effectiveness is very low and above which it is very high. More than one candidate may be in the effective region, or all candidates may be in the ineffective region. Approval voting attempts to ensure that the most-approved candidate is selected, maximizing the chance that the resulting policies will be effective. Operations Research, or simply OR is an interdisciplinary science which deploys scientific methods like mathematical modeling, statistics, and algorithms to decision making in complex real-world problems which are concerned with coordination and execution of the operations within an organization. ... Logistic curve, specifically the sigmoid function A logistic function or logistic curve models the S-curve of growth of some set P. The initial stage of growth is approximately exponential; then, as competition arises, the growth slows, and at maturity, growth stops. ...

Ballot types

Approval ballots can be of at least four semi-distinct forms. The simplest form is a blank ballot where the names of supported candidates is written in by hand. A more structured ballot will list all the candidates and allow a mark or word to be made by each supported candidate. A more explicit structured ballot can list the candidates and give two choices by each. (Candidate list ballots can include spaces for write-in candidates as well.)

All four ballots are interchangeable. The more structured ballots may aid voters in offering clear votes so they explicitly know all their choices. The Yes/No format can help to detect an "undervote" when a candidate is left unmarked, and allow the voter a second chance to confirm the ballot markings are correct. Approval ballot by writing in names Originally uploaded as a GIF by Tomruen. ... Approval ballot by written words Originally uploaded as a GIF by Tomruen. ... Approval ballot by checkbox marks Originally uploaded as a GIF by Tomruen. ... Approval ballot by two choices Originally uploaded as a GIF by Tomruen. ...

See also

Politics Portal

• Borda count
• Bucklin voting
• First Past the Post electoral system (also called Plurality or Relative Majority)
• Condorcet method
• Schulze method
• Instant-runoff voting
• Majority Choice Approval
• Range voting
• Voting system - many other ways of voting

Image File history File links Portal. ... The Borda count is a single winner election method in which voters rank candidates in order of preference. ... Bucklin is a voting system that can be used for single-member districts and also multi-member districts. ... The First Past the Post electoral system, is a voting system for single-member districts. ... Any election method conforming to the Condorcet criterion is known as a Condorcet method. ... The Schulze method is a voting system developed in 1997 by Markus Schulze that selects a single winner using votes that express preferences. ... Example ballot Instant-runoff voting (IRV) (also known as the Alternative Vote (AV) and by several other names) is an voting system used for single winner elections in which voters rank candidates in order of preference. ... Majority-choice approval (MCA) is a voting system devised by Forest Simmons in April 2002 for use with three-slot ballots. ... Range voting (also called ratings summation, average voting, cardinal ratings, 0–99 voting, or the score system or point system) is a theoretical voting system for single-seat elections in which voters score each candidate, the scores are added up, and the candidate with the highest score wins. ... A voting system is a means of choosing between a number of options, based on the input of a number of voters. ...

References

1. ^ Brams and Herschbach (2001) "The Science of Elections". Science 292 (5521): 1449. DOI:10.1126/science.292.5521.1449.
2. ^ Results of experimental vote in France, 2002 (PDF, French)

A digital object identifier (or DOI) is a permanent identifier (permalink) given to a World Wide Web file or other Internet document so that if its Internet address changes, users will be redirected to its new address. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

External links

• Citizens for Approval Voting
• Americans for Approval Voting
• Approval Voting Free Association Wiki
• Approval Voting: A Better Way to Select a Winner Article by Steven J. Brams.
• Approval Voting on Dichotomous Preferences Article by Marc Vorsatz.
• Scoring Rules on Dichotomous Preferences Article by Marc Vorsatz.
• Approval Voting: An Experiment during the French 2002 Presidential Election Article by Jean-François Laslier and Karine Vander Straeten.
• The Arithmetic of Voting article by Guy Ottewell
• Critical Strategies Under Approval Voting: Who Gets Ruled In And Ruled Out Article by Steven J. Brams and M. Remzi Sanver.
• Going from Theory to Practice:The Mixed Success of Approval Voting Article by Steven J. Brams and Peter C. Fishburn.
• Strategic approval voting in a large electorate Article by Jean-François Laslier.
• Approval Voting with Endogenous Candidates An article by Arnaud Dellis and Mandor P. Oak.
• Generalized Spectral Analysis for Large Sets of Approval Voting Data Article by David Thomas Uminsky.
• Approval Voting and Parochialism Article by Jonathan Baron, Nicole Altman and Stephan Kroll.