approval voting

L’affaire du Pen provides an occasion to trot out one of my hobbyhorses.

If you mark your ballot as favoring more candidates than can be elected, your ballot will be discarded as ‘spoiled’. Why? What is illogical about saying, “I like candidates A,B,C better than candidates D,E,F”? What is the advantage in throwing that information away? Is it democratic to appoint a large faction’s first choice (no matter how despised by other factions) over everybody’s second choice?

The alternative is called ‘approval voting’. I would propose this: The candidate with the broadest approval is elected; if no candidate has 2/3 approval, the winner has reduced powers and a shorter term; if no candidate has 1/2 approval, think about whether you really want such an officer.

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