Approval voting is a way of electing one winner in which you can vote for as many candidates as you like, and the candidate with the most votes wins. Instead of “vote for one,” the ballot says “vote for all you approve of.” It’s meant to let voters support a long-shot favorite without worrying about splitting the vote.
In the U.S., St. Louis uses approval voting in its city primaries. Fargo, North Dakota, was the first U.S. city to adopt it but had to stop after the state banned it in 2025.
If you were looking for presidential approval ratings, that’s a different thing. It’s covered further down.
How does an approval voting ballot work? #
The ballot looks like a normal one: each candidate’s name with a bubble next to it. The difference is the instruction. On a standard plurality ballot, filling in two bubbles for one office spoils your vote for that race. On an approval ballot, you can fill in as many as you want.
Counting is simple:
- Every filled-in bubble is one vote for that candidate.
- Add up each candidate’s votes.
- The candidate with the most votes wins.
Because voters can mark several candidates, the total votes will be higher than the number of voters. In a city with 10,000 voters, the winner might get 6,500 approvals, meaning 65% of voters found them acceptable.
Plurality vs. approval voting: an example #
Imagine a mayoral race with three candidates:
- Alice, the first choice of 40% of voters.
- Charlie, the first choice of 35%.
- Bob, the first choice of 25%, and acceptable to most of Alice’s and Charlie’s voters too.
Under plurality (vote for one) #
Alice 40%, Charlie 35%, Bob 25%. Alice wins with 40%, even though 60% of voters preferred someone else.
Under approval voting #
Suppose most of Alice’s voters also approve of Bob, most of Charlie’s voters also approve of Bob, and Bob’s voters approve only of Bob. Bob might end up approved by around 80% of voters, while Alice and Charlie stay near their first-choice shares. Bob wins as the most broadly acceptable candidate.
Whether that’s better is the core debate. Supporters say it finds the consensus candidate. Critics say it can elect someone few people are excited about.
How does approval voting compare with ranked-choice voting? #
Both aim to reduce the “spoiler effect,” where a third candidate pulls votes from a similar candidate and helps a less popular one win. They work differently.
| Approval voting | Ranked-choice voting | |
|---|---|---|
| What you do | Mark every candidate you approve of | Rank candidates 1st, 2nd, 3rd… |
| How it’s counted | Add up the marks | Eliminate the last-place candidate and transfer votes, round by round, until someone has a majority |
| Can you show a favorite? | No, all approvals count equally | Yes |
| Equipment | Works on most existing machines | May need software changes |
| Result reporting | One round | Can take several rounds |
Our simple guide to ranked-choice voting covers how RCV counts work in places like Alaska and Maine.
What are the pros and cons of approval voting? #
Pros #
- Less spoiler risk. You can vote for a minor-party candidate and a major-party candidate at once, so supporting a long shot doesn’t hurt your second choice.
- Simple ballots and counts. No ranking and no rounds, and fewer spoiled ballots from overvoting.
- Cheap to run. Most voting equipment already handles “vote for up to three” races for school boards and councils.
- Broader appeal pays. Candidates benefit from being acceptable to other candidates’ supporters, which can discourage harsh attacks.
Cons #
- No way to show intensity. Approving your favorite and a candidate you barely tolerate gives both the same boost.
- Bullet voting. If supporters realize that approving a second choice might help that candidate beat their favorite, many will approve only one. If enough do, the election behaves much like plurality voting.
- Lukewarm winners. Critics argue it can reward the least objectionable candidate rather than the one with the strongest support.
Where is approval voting used in the U.S.? #
- St. Louis, Missouri. Voters approved Proposition D in 2020, which made city primaries nonpartisan and switched them to approval voting. The top two finishers advance to the general election. When Missouri voters passed Amendment 7 in 2024, banning ranked-choice and approval voting statewide, St. Louis’s existing system was allowed to continue.
- Fargo, North Dakota. Fargo voters adopted approval voting in 2018, and the city used it in three elections. In April 2025, Governor Kelly Armstrong signed a law banning both approval voting and ranked-choice voting across North Dakota, ending Fargo’s system. Supporters pointed out that winners in Fargo’s 2024 commission race had support from about 45% of voters, up from under 20% in the crowded 2018 race under the old rules.
Beyond cities, some professional and academic organizations use approval voting for internal elections. Several states have moved in the other direction, passing laws that bar alternative voting methods, so check your state’s current rules before assuming either system could come to your area.
Is approval voting the same as an approval rating? #
No. Approval voting is a way of casting ballots. A presidential approval rating is a poll result: the share of adults or voters who say they approve of how the president is handling the job. Our explainer on how presidential approval ratings are calculated covers that.
If the rating is what you’re after, Election Tracker shows the president’s approve, disapprove and net approval as a 7-day average of every published poll, with a 30- or 90-day chart and the individual polls listed underneath.
Frequently asked questions #
Can I vote for every candidate on an approval ballot? #
Yes, but it has no effect. Approving everyone adds one vote to every candidate, so the gaps between them don’t change. Your ballot only matters for the candidates you approve compared with those you don’t.
Does approval voting eliminate the spoiler effect? #
It greatly reduces it, because you can support a minor candidate without abandoning a major one. It doesn’t remove strategy entirely: voters still decide where to draw the line between “approve” and “don’t approve,” and some may approve only their favorite.
Does approval voting need new voting machines? #
Usually not. Most equipment can already count races where voters choose more than one candidate, like multi-seat council elections. Election officials configure a single-winner race to accept multiple marks.
How is approval voting different from plurality voting? #
Plurality lets you vote for one candidate, and the most votes wins even without a majority. Approval voting lets you vote for as many as you like. Our guide to plurality vs. majority explains how the most common U.S. rules work.