Approval voting
 |
 |
Approval voting is an electoral system in which voters may vote for any number of candidates they choose. The candidate receiving the most votes wins. Approval voting may be used insingle-winner systems andmulti-winner systems.
As of April 2025, one U.S. city,St. Louis, Missouri, had implemented approval voting.Fargo, North Dakota used approval voting from 2020-2024.
Use
This section provides information on jurisdictions that had implemented approval voting as of April 2025.
St. Louis, Missouri
In November 2020, St. Louis voters approvedProposition D, 68.15% to 31.85%. The measure implemented approval voting in local primary elections beginning in 2021.
Fargo, North Dakota
Voters in Fargo approvedMeasure 1 in November 2018, 63.5% to 36.5%. The measure implemented approval voting in local elections beginning in 2020. The city first used approval voting for a mayoral election in 2022.[1]
On April 15, 2025, GovernorKelly Armstrong (R) signedHB 1297 into law, banning the use of RCV and approval voting. The law said, "Approval voting or ranked-choice voting may not be used in an election held within this state to elect or nominate a candidate to any local, state, or federal elective office. ... An ordinance enacted or adopted by a county, city, or other political subdivision, including an ordinance enacted or adopted under a home rule charter, which conflicts with this section is void. "[2] No jurisdiction in the state used RCV at the time the bill became law.
In a statement, Gov. Armstrong said, "Now more than ever, we need a consistent, efficient and easy-to-understand voter experience across our entire state to maintain trust in our election system."[3] The mayor of Fargo, Tim Mahoney, said, "The people of Fargo liked approval voting. It worked for us, but we accept the legislative body. We accept the decision they made.”[3]
What approval voting looks like
This section shows how approval voting unfolded in St. Louis'top-two mayoral primary election on March 4, 2025.
In the mayoral primary, 34,982 people voted and cast 48,908 total votes—an average of 1.4 votes per ballot.[4]
- Cara Spencer was selected on 23,826 ballots and finished first in the primary. This means that she was picked on 68.1% of ballots.
- IncumbentTishaura Jones was selected on 11,612 ballots, coming in second. This means that 33.2% of voters that cast a ballot in the election approved Jones on their ballot.
Sample ballot
This sample ballot came from the city's website.[5]
Results
The election results PDF below came from the city's website.[4]
Arguments for and against approval voting
Support
TheCenter for Election Science—a nonprofit that advocates for the implementation of approval voting—wrote that the following are advantages of approval voting:[6]
| “ |
| ” |
Tishaura Jones, who won the 2021 mayoral election in St. Louis and was the city's treasurer at the time of the Proposition D vote, said the following:[8]
| “ | Ultimately, Proposition D empowers St. Louis voters with more choices and ensures that the next mayor has to win the support of the majority of voters.[7] | ” |
Opposition
Rob Richie, president ofFairVote—an organization that advocates for the implementation of ranked-choice voting—wrote in 2016:[9]
| “ | There are uses of approval voting that can make sense -- like when a group of people deciding on what movie to watch. While mathematicians can like this system and its alleged likelihood of electing a consensus winner, my colleagues and I are highly skeptical of its use in candidate elections. Two factors stand out:
| ” |
TheAfrican American Aldermanic Caucus wrote of St. Louis' Proposition D:[10]
| “ | Proposition D disenfranchises voters, because ballots that do not include the two ultimate finalists are cast aside to manufacture a faux majority for the winner. Under Proposition D, you never really know who will be running against whom in the final vote count with ranked choice. It is all a numbers gimmick.[7] | ” |
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑Cass County, North Dakota, "2022 Primary election abstract", accessed April 8, 2025
- ↑Bill Track 50, "North Dakota HB1297," accessed April 28, 2025
- ↑3.03.1AP News, "North Dakota governor signs bill doing away with Fargo’s unusual voting system," April 16, 2025
- ↑4.04.1St. Louis, Missouri, "Cumulative Results Report, Primary Municipal Election," March 11, 2024
- ↑St. Louis, Missouri, "Sample Ballot, March 4 Primary," accessed April 8, 2025
- ↑The Center for Election Science, "What is Approval Voting?" June 11, 2024
- ↑7.07.17.27.3Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑The People's Plan St. Louis, "Questions from the People," accessed April 8, 2025
- ↑FairVote, "New Lessons from Problems with Approval Voting in Practice," December 14, 2016
- ↑Facebook, "African American Aldermanic Caucus," September 25, 2020
