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 in single-winner systems and multi-winner systems.
As of March 2026, one U.S. city, St. Louis, Missouri, had implemented approval voting. Fargo, North Dakota used approval voting from 2020-2024.
Jurisdictions using approval voting
This section provides information on jurisdictions that had implemented approval voting as of March 2026 or that have used it in recent elections.
St. Louis, Missouri
In November 2020, St. Louis voters approved Proposition D, 68.15% to 31.85%. The measure implemented approval voting in local primary elections beginning in 2021.
Fargo, North Dakota
Voters in Fargo approved Measure 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, Governor Kelly Armstrong (R) signed HB 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.
Utah Forward Party state Senate approval election (2025)
On November 20, 2025, the Utah Forward Party announced that the party would conduct an election using approval voting to select a nominee to replace state Sen. Dan Thatcher, a member of the Utah Forward Party, who resigned from his seat.[3] When filling a legislative vacancy, the Utah governor is required to appoint a person from the same party as the outgoing legislator, with the party submitting the nominee.[3][4] The approval voting election was held online and was open to all registered voters in the district.[3]
On December 12, 2025, the Utah Forward Party announced that Emily Buss was elected as the party's choice to replace Thatcher.[5] The party said that 2,308 votes were cast by 1,324 voters; Buss won 625 votes, or 47.2% of the vote.[5]
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.[6]
- 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.
- Incumbent Tishaura Jones was selected on 11,612 ballots, coming in second. This means that 33.2% of voters who cast a ballot in the election approved Jones on their ballot.
Sample ballot
This sample ballot came from the city's website.[7]
Results
The election results PDF below came from the city's website.[6]
Arguments for and against approval voting
Support
Supporters of approval voting argue that it forces candidates to appeal to a broader group of voters, and also allows voters to support candidates they might otherwise not have voted for.
Approval voting forces candidates to appeal to a broader group of voters
In a 2022 op-ed for The Hill, Aaron Hamlin, the executive director of the Center for Election Science, argued that approval voting forces candidates to appeal to a broader group of voters.[8] The Center for Election Science's website describes itself as "a national nonpartisan nonprofit focused on election analysis and voting reform advocacy."[9]
| “ | ... we’re limited to “saving” our votes for the candidates we expect to win — sometimes the lesser of two evils — rather than the candidates we truly connect with. After all, we only have one precious vote.
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” |
Approval voting allows voters to support candidates they otherwise might not have voted for
On its website, STL Approves, which supported Proposition D, argued that approval voting allows voters to support candidates they otherwise might not have voted for because of worries their preferred candidate wouldn't win.[11]
| “ | If you want to support one candidate, you can safely do it now without worrying about the spoiler effect hurting other candidates you like—you can vote for all of them—protecting your interests while also giving each of them a more accurate measure of support. Voters can also still vote exactly the way they currently vote in mayoral and commission races without any change: no harm, no foul. Those who choose to take advantage of approval voting’s expressiveness can do so without forcing any other voters to do it, too.[10] | ” |
Opposition
Opponents of approval voting argue that the system makes it harder for a voter's first choice to win if they vote for multiple candidates. They also argue that it favors certain types of candidates over others.
Approval voting can make it harder for a voter's first choice to win
Rob Richie, president of FairVote argued in a 2022 post that voting for multiple candidates using approval voting can make it harder for a voter's first choice to win.[12] As of March 2026, FairVote's website said "We research and advance voting reforms that make democracy more functional and representative for every American, with a focus on two key reforms: ranked choice voting and proportional representation."[13]
| “ | Approval voting presents a conflict: either voters will withhold honest preferences due to engaging in tactical voting or it will violate the principle of majority rule. That is, either voters will withhold votes from compromise candidates or they might instead cast those votes and enable a candidate with little first choice support to defeat a candidate who might well be the first choice of 55 percent of voters. ...
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” |
Approval voting rewards certain candidates over others
In 2021, Kamau Chege, director of the Washington Community Alliance, argued that approval voting rewards certain candidates, even if they are not the first choice of most voters.[14] The Washington Community Alliance's website describes its mission as "fighting to close the representation gap for people of color in every level of elected office in Washington State."[15]
| “ | What you'll end up with is everyone approving the most inoffensive candidate, and that inoffensive candidate will learn that the way to be most inoffensive is to promise to not change things very much, which is not the general sentiment of most voters. Most voters think the status quo is bad, and they want to change things about it, but they just disagree about what to change.[10] | ” |
See also
Footnotes
- ↑ Cass County, North Dakota, "2022 Primary election abstract", accessed March 6, 2026
- ↑ Bill Track 50, "North Dakota HB1297," accessed March 6, 2026
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Utah News Dispatch, "Utah’s Forward Party introduces 5 candidates, lays out voting plan to replace Sen. Thatcher," November 20, 2025
- ↑ Utah State Legislature, "Utah Code Ann. § 20A-1-503," accessed March 6, 2026
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Utah News Dispatch, "Utah Forward Party’s first-of-its-kind preference poll picks a winner to replace Sen. Thatcher," December 12, 2025
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 St. Louis, Missouri, "Cumulative Results Report, Primary Municipal Election," March 11, 2024
- ↑ St. Louis, Missouri, "Sample Ballot, March 4 Primary," accessed March 6, 2026
- ↑ The Hill, "Democracy is under threat; let’s protect it with smart election reform," December 5, 2022
- ↑ The Center for Election Science, "Who We Are," accessed March 6, 2026
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ STL Approves, "What is Proposition D?" accessed March 13, 2026
- ↑ DemocracySOS, "What Fargo Reveals about Approval Voting," June 21, 2022
- ↑ FairVote, "Who We Are," accessed March 6, 2026
- ↑ The Stranger, "Proposed Initiative Would Let Seattle Vote for as Many Primary Candidates as They'd Like," November 22, 2021
- ↑ Washington Community Alliance, "Our Story," accessed March 13, 2026
