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Approval voting facts for kids

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Approval ballot
On an approval ballot, the voter can vote for any number of candidates.

Approval voting is a special way of voting used in elections. Imagine you are choosing a class president. With approval voting, you don't just pick one person. Instead, you can vote for every candidate you like or approve of.

After everyone votes, the votes for each candidate are added up. The candidate (or candidates, if there's more than one spot) who gets the most "approvals" wins the election. It's like saying "yes" to all the people you think would do a good job.

Why Approval Voting is Good

Many people think approval voting is a great system. Here are some reasons why:

  • Vote for your favorites: You can vote for your absolute favorite candidate without worrying about "wasting" your vote. You can also approve of other candidates you like.
  • Against a candidate: If you really don't want a certain candidate to win, you can approve of all the other candidates. This makes your vote against that one person stronger.
  • Easy to count: Ballots can be counted by hand easily. This is helpful if people don't trust computers for counting votes.
  • More choices: Many candidates can run for office without "spoiling" the vote. This means voters have more options to choose from.

Challenges of Approval Voting

Even though approval voting has many good points, some people see challenges:

  • Tactical voting: Sometimes, voters might still wonder if they should vote for their favorite or a "compromise" candidate. This is called tactical voting.
  • Compromise candidate wins: It's possible that a candidate who is everyone's second choice might win. This could happen if many people approve of them, even if their top choice was someone else.
  • Not knowing what to do: If there are three or more strong candidates, it can be hard for voters to decide if they should approve of just one or many. This problem can happen in many voting systems.

Images for kids

  • The story of the greatest nations, from the dawn of history to the twentieth century - a comprehensive history, founded upon the leading authorities, including a complete chronology of the world, and (14765071792)

    Rows of secret approval vote boxes from early 1900s Greece, where the voter drops a marble to the right or left of the box, through a tube, one for each candidate standing

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Voto aprobatorio para niños

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