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I can vote for more than 1 choice? I would vote for Obama and Hilary if I could.

• mdemare 19y ago
  In the primaries? That doesn't seem useful... But with multiple selections in the general election we wouldn't need primaries and would get more centrist presidents.
  • dfranke 19y ago
    Not necessarily more centrist, but probably more idiosyncratic. The benefit of approval voting is that you aren't disincentivized from voting for candidates whom you like but think can't win.
    • mdemare 19y ago
      It's interesting to consider which US elections would have had a different outcome with approval voting. Certainly the 2000 election. People could have voted both for Nader and Gore, which would have tipped Gore over the edge. How about 1992? Could Bush have won if angry republicans would have a chance to vent their anger by also voting for Perot? Or might Perot have won since voting for a 3rd party candidate wouldn't feel like a lost vote. To demonstrate the problem with approval voting (all voting systems have problems, as was proven by Kenneth Arrow in 1951): if Obama, Clinton and McCain would all run, McCain would probably win, even if a majority of voters preferred either Democrat. So, approval voting should allow fair elections with more than two candidates, but in practice it doesn't, because people vote strategically.
      • eru 19y ago
        Don't you confuse approval voting with first-past-the-post?