Benefits of Approval Voting

The benefits of Approval Voting are many and varied. Possibly the most important benefit is the elimination of the "Wasted Vote Syndrome" and the "Spoiler effect" which are direct byproducts of the commonly used plurality voting system. With Approval Voting you are never stuck with only voting for "the lesser of two evils" as long as more favorable choices are also on the ballot.

Another important consequence of Approval Voting is that the strategy of relying on political attack ads becomes significantly riskier. Attacks may alienate independent and third party voters who, in Approval Voting, are just as important for determining the outcome as is any other voter.

Approval Voting is particularly powerful for picking the most acceptable nominee from a long list of candidates. This is often the case in political party primaries or special elections. Highly suspect candidates often emerge as primary winners or runners-up when plurality voting is used. This often leads to unacceptable candidates and uncompetitive races in the general election or even to highly unpopular officeholders.

Please examine the other benefits listed on this website. It is amazing that such a simple change can have such profound and positive impact on elections.