Score voting facts for kids

Imagine you're trying to pick the best game for a game night, and everyone gets to give each game a score, like from 0 to 5 points. Score voting is a way of choosing a winner in an election that works a lot like that! Instead of just picking one person, voters give points to each candidate on a scale. For example, they might give a candidate 0 points if they really don't like them, or 5 points if they think they are amazing. After everyone votes, all the points for each candidate are added up. The candidate who gets the most total points wins the election! This method is often used when the goal is to find the single most popular candidate, rather than making sure different groups are represented.

How Score Voting Works

Score voting is pretty simple once you understand the steps. Here's how it usually happens:

• Step 1: The Ballot

* When you get your ballot (the paper or screen where you vote), you'll see a list of all the people running for the position. * Next to each candidate, there will be a scoring scale. This scale might go from 0 to 5, 0 to 10, or even 0 to 99.

• Step 2: You Score Each Candidate

* You get to give a score to every single candidate on the ballot. * If you really like a candidate, you give them a high score (like a 5). * If you don't like a candidate at all, you give them a low score (like a 0). * You can give the same score to more than one candidate if you feel the same way about them.

• Step 3: Counting the Votes

* After everyone has voted, all the scores given to each candidate by all the voters are added together. * Imagine Candidate A got scores of 5, 4, 5, 3 from four different voters. Their total would be 17 points. * Candidate B got scores of 2, 3, 1, 4 from the same voters. Their total would be 10 points.

• Step 4: The Winner!

* The candidate with the highest total score from all the voters wins the election! It's like a popularity contest where everyone gets to say exactly how much they like each person.

What is Approval Voting?

You might hear about something called Approval voting. This is a special type of score voting.

• In approval voting, the scoring scale is very simple: it's just 0 or 1.
• Giving a candidate a 1 means you "approve" of them.
• Giving a candidate a 0 means you "do not approve" of them.
• You can approve of as many candidates as you want. You don't have to pick just one.
• Just like regular score voting, the candidate with the most "approval" points (the most 1s) wins. It's a quick way to see who has the most general support.

Why Use Score Voting?

Score voting is different from other election methods where you might only pick one person or rank candidates in order. Here are some reasons why people might choose to use it:

• Shows How Much You Like Someone: Instead of just saying "yes" or "no" to a candidate, you can show how strongly you feel about them. A score of 5 means you really like them, while a 3 means you think they're okay.
• Helps Find a Popular Choice: This system is good at finding a candidate who is generally liked by many people, even if they aren't everyone's absolute top choice. They might be a good compromise candidate.
• Simple to Understand: Giving points is a concept many people are familiar with from games or reviews, which can make it easy to understand how to vote.

Images for kids

• 

  On a score ballot, the voter scores all the candidates

• 

  STAR Voting uses a standard Score Voting ballot. The counting method adds an extra step to yield the preference winner between the top two scoring candidates overall.

See also

In Spanish: Voto por puntaje para niños