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Why haven't I heard of Approval Voting ?
Saturday, 20 September 2008 07:41 amVoting system names aren't particular helpful, with "first-past-the-post", which is "one person, one vote", being called "plurality voting" (I think recognizing the historical novelty of many people having a say in the decision). Even so the idea of Approval Voting is so obviously good that I'd have remembered the idea if not the name. I've looked at various forms of Single Transferable Vote and New Scientist had a feature on alternative voting systems in April, so why did I have to read the house magazine of one of the groups who share our building to hear about Approval Voting ?
What do I as a voter want from an election ? Once I recognize that I can't pick my representative but have to allow the other constituents a say as well and I've seen that first-past-the post doesn't work, what I want to tell the returning officer is which of the candidates are acceptable to me and which are not.
STV systems ask me to put the candidates in order of preference and there are related schemes that allow me to say whether A is six as good as B or merely twice as good as A, but Approval Voting asks me one thing about each candidate, the one thing that really matters: are they good enough ?
Some of my friends know lots about voting systems. Is there some horrible flaw, a case where AV gives a really bad result ?
Of course AV allows us to mark more than one box, so we would have to give up "one person, one vote" - perhaps to become "one person, one ballot paper" ?
What do I as a voter want from an election ? Once I recognize that I can't pick my representative but have to allow the other constituents a say as well and I've seen that first-past-the post doesn't work, what I want to tell the returning officer is which of the candidates are acceptable to me and which are not.
STV systems ask me to put the candidates in order of preference and there are related schemes that allow me to say whether A is six as good as B or merely twice as good as A, but Approval Voting asks me one thing about each candidate, the one thing that really matters: are they good enough ?
Some of my friends know lots about voting systems. Is there some horrible flaw, a case where AV gives a really bad result ?
Of course AV allows us to mark more than one box, so we would have to give up "one person, one vote" - perhaps to become "one person, one ballot paper" ?
