Approval Voting

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xxi

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2. Introduction: Overview of the Problem and Its Solution

   Pages 1-14

3. Sincerity and Strategy-Proofness: Which System Is Most Honest?

   Pages 15-34

4. The Condorcet Criterion: Which System Best Finds the Majority Candidate?

   Pages 35-58

5. The Reconstruction of an Election under Alternative Rules

   Pages 59-72

6. Power and Equity: Which System Is Fairest?

   Pages 73-92

7. Deducing Condorcet Candidates from Election Data

   Pages 93-107

8. Polls and the Problem of Strategic Information in Elections

   Pages 109-125

9. Recent Empirical Examples and Theoretical Extensions

   Pages 127-149

10. Deducing Preferences and Choices in the 1980 Presidential Election

    Pages 151-169

11. Epilogue

    Pages 171-172

12. Back Matter

    Pages 173-199

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"Approval Voting" proposes a compelling way to elect some 500,000 officials in public elections. Under this system voters may vote for, or approve of, as many candidates as they like in multicandidate elections. Among the many benefits of approval voting are its propensity to elect the majority candidate (rather than the strongest minority candidate, as often occurs under plurality voting), its relative invulnerability to insincere or strategic voting, and - by offering voters the opportunity to influence election outcomes more equitably - a probable increase in voter turnout.

Since the publication of the first edition of this book, its arguments in favor of an election reform practically unknown in 1983 have stood the test of time. Perhaps the proof of the pudding lies in the adoption of approval voting by about a dozen professional societies - several with tens of thousands of members - and their generally favorable experience with it. After a generation of discussion and debate on the subject, the authors remain convinced that "Approval Voting" is as relevant today as it was when rigorous analysis and systematic empirical research on this election reform began more than 30 years ago.

• Election
• Elections
• Electoral
• Electoral reform
• Presidential elections
• voter
• voter turnout
• voting

"This book is the second edition of a classic book. In the preface to this new edition, the authors write: ``We have decided not to revise Approval Voting, except to make minor corrections to the initial text". I can only refer to my review of the first edition and add that I think that, even after nearly 25 years, this is the best place to learn about Approval Voting, a major voting procedure. This is the extemely rare example of a book that does not look its age." --Maurice Salles for Zentralblatt MATH

• Department of Politics, New York University, New York, USA

  Steven J. Brams

• Basking Ridge

  Peter C. Fishburn

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