COMPARING APPROVAL VOTING AND RANKED CHOICE VOTING by Barry Fagin Senior Fellow, Technology Policy IP-2-2021 • April 2021 INTRODUCTION This paper is about better ways to vote. in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities.”1 Americans have become so accustomed to our voting system we forget how Or this from his successor: strange it is. Many countries admire our Constitution to the point of imitation, “There is nothing I dread So much, as and have adopted our system of checks a Division of the Republick into two and balances by dividing government great Parties, each arranged under its into executive, legislative and judicial Leader, and concerting Measures in branches. Yet absolutely none of them opposition to each other. This, in my elect candidates to political office the humble Apprehension is to be dreaded way we do. That’s because democracies as the greatest political Evil, under our want to avoid precisely those problems Constitution.”2 besetting America today: citizen apathy, low voter turnout, bitter partisanship, a James Madison’s concerns about parties Many countries lack of political competition, the lack of a rooted in geography are eerily accurate admire our political center, and the resulting division today (bolding is mine). Constitution to the of the country into two warring factions point of imitation, that see each other as the enemy. To name “Should a state of parties arise founded a few. on geographical boundaries and other and have adopted physical and permanent distinctions our system of checks The Framers were exceptionally well- which happen to coincide with them, and balances by read and intelligent men, perched at what is to control these great repulsive the right point in history to create an Masses from awful shocks against each dividing government exceptional system of government for other?”3 into executive, an exceptional nation. We are right to legislative and consider significant changes to their This could have been written yesterday, judicial branches. legacy institutions only with great about urban Democrats vs. rural reluctance and deliberation. Experiments Republicans. Yet absolutely should be tried at the local level first, then none of them elect the states, and only then at the level of If we’re honest with ourselves, we must candidates to national government. conclude that we are now in the very situation the Framers worked so hard political office the On the other hand, we should also note to avoid. We need to look at how we way we do. that our present conundrum is exactly got here, and to experiment with other what the Framers warned against over ideas that might help move us forward. two hundred years ago. Their writings in Let us not forget that experimentation this regard seem downright prophetic. with alternative voting systems at the state level, as for example Maine and Consider this excerpt from George Alaska have done, is a great example of Washington’s Farewell Address: Federalism, and completely consistent with both conservatism and the Framers’ “[We must be wary of] the alternate vision of distinct states united into a domination of one faction over another, democratic republic. sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which 1 SOMETHING IMPORTANT ABOUT VOTING SYSTEMS Voting stinks. • What are the problems of the current system? I’m paraphrasing here. It’s more accurate • What are the problems of the system to say that no voting system is perfect. we want to replace it with? Turns out that’s not an opinion, but a • How do they compare? theorem of mathematics. • For a given problem with a given system, what are the chances of it In 1951, the economist Kenneth happening? Arrow showed that given reasonable • How hard is it to solve a specific assumptions about how voting systems problem? work, and given some fairly obvious • Are all the problems equally bad, or desirable properties that any voting are some worse than others? system should have (all votes are equal, for example), it’s impossible to design Similarly, the right criticism is not, “This a system that satisfies them all. This system has problems so we should reject ...when you’re became known as the Arrow Impossibility it.” Right criticisms would be, “This system comparing voting Theorem. Arrow was awarded the Nobel has more problems than the present one,” Prize in 1972. or, “This system’s problems are worse systems (as this than those we have now,” and so on. report does) it is vital What does Arrow’s Theorem mean in to not let the perfect practice? It means that every voting This paper will look at two alternative system is going to have problems. So voting systems: approval voting (AV) and be the enemy of the when you’re comparing voting systems ranked choice voting (RCV). Before we do good. (as this report does) it is vital to not let the that, it will help to understand how voting perfect be the enemy of the good. The right systems can be classified. question is not, “Does this system have problems?” The right questions are: WAYS TO DESCRIBE VOTING SYSTEMS There are many possible voting systems example, you might be asked to vote for a in both the academic literature and in few candidates for city council or school the real world; we can explore only a few. board if there are multiple positions However, it will be useful for us to know available. the different ways voting systems can How is the winner chosen? The most be classified, so we’ll know how to think common method in the US is whoever about our present system and some of the gets the most votes. This is known as a alternatives. Here are some questions we plurality system, also called first-past-the- might ask about a voting system: post or winner-take-all. Note that this does How many winners are there? Partisan not guarantee a majority winner if more than two candidates are on the ballot. elections at the state and federal level Note as well that this is not the only way have only one winner; you vote for one to choose a winner. More on this shortly. candidate and they win or lose. But most of us are also familiar with elections How many candidates can you vote that have more than one winner. For for? This may seem nonsensical for 2 elections with a single winner. How and Can you vote for a party only, why would you vote for more than one individual candidates from different candidate in that case? In fact, there parties, or a combination of both? are numerous advantages to allowing Ireland has a system that permits both. voters to vote for multiple parties and/ or candidates in single-winner elections. I If a majority of votes is required will discuss this shortly. for a winner and only a plurality is achieved, how is the winner decided? Can you express preferences among This is typically not an issue in the US candidates? For those elections in which election when a plurality determines you can vote for more than one candidate, the winner and there are only two are you allowed to rank order your major parties. But for a party primary, choices or not? or elections with a single winner and ...there are numerous multiple primaries, or an election where advantages to How many parties are there? In the a strong third-party or independent allowing voters to US, two is the most common answer, outsider is running, some procedure vote for multiple unusual among democracies. Zero must be invoked for those cases where can also be an answer in elections for a majority is not obtained on the first parties and/or non-partisan posts, local government ballot. The simplest and most common candidates in single- boards, judgeships, and so on. One is technique is a runoff election between the winner elections. the answer if the election in question is top two vote getters, adding considerable a primary, whose purpose is to choose cost to the electoral process. Fortunately, a party representative to run in a later as we shall see, there are other partisan election. One is also the answer possibilities. for “elections” in totalitarian regimes, and are the reason why the Communist Party There are many other questions that was so successful at winning elections in could be asked, and many other ways to the former Soviet Union. In multiparty classify voting systems. The above list democracies like those in Europe, voters should be adequate for the purpose of this will typically have the option of choosing paper. between three or more parties come election time. PROBLEMS WITH VOTING SYSTEMS I have already mentioned that no voting Non-majority outcomes. A candidate system is perfect. Here are a few of the with higher preferences by a majority of problems they can suffer from: voters can still lose. Non-majority representation. A Tactical voting. This occurs when it is majority of voters may not translate to rational for a voter to vote against their a majority in government. This happens personal preferences because, due to quite often, not always through the quirks of the system, such votes could intentional manipulation of districts actually improve the chances of getting known as “gerrymandering.” It is an the outcome they want. This possibility inherent flaw in any winner-take-all may seem surprising to Americans, system of representational government. because elections with two choices do not have this problem. However, all 3 elections with more than two choices are the winner should be whoever gets the vulnerable to tactical voting.4 most points in a rank-ordered system.