Approval Voting
How to ensure the BEST Republican candidate is chosen EVERY time.
There is a simple tweak to our current Republican primary voting system that can ensure the most favorable candidate gets elected every time, that can save money, and will help us beat the Democrats in every election across the country.
Current Flaws
Our current “First Past the Post” voting system has some unintended consequences. Its format incentivizes certain actions of voters which are detrimental to the Republican Party.
Tactical Voting
If a voter feels that their favorite candidate has little chance of winning, they are more likely to vote for a different candidate that is more popular. This is especially true if they strongly dislike a third candidate they fear might win if they don’t vote strategically.
Splitting Votes
If two candidates share similar values (such as pro-life, pro-guns, etc.), voters with those same values might be split on who they support. This can sometimes result in neither being elected as neither candidate can secure a majority.
Runoffs
If no Republican candidate wins a majority in down ballot races, they must spend several months and sometimes millions of dollars in trying to beat their Republican rival. This money and time would be far better spent against their Democrat opponent.
The Solution
Let People Vote for More Than One Candidate
That’s it – literally. No restructuring of the ballot. No extensive re-education of voters. This simple change removes all of the negative incentives above.
On the ballot, voters simply vote for as many candidates in a single race as they think match their values. Once the votes are counted, the person with the highest number wins. No runoffs necessary.
Example Election
Let’s look at how this plays out in real-time with some friendly Republican animals. The Republican primary candidates are Eli the Elephant, Rob the Rhino, and Tyler the Tiger. All the creatures have their favorites, but it looks like some of the smaller animals might be worried about the carnivorous tiger.
Results
Current System
With Approval Voting
Here we can clearly see the current’s systems flaws of vote splitting and tactical voting. This effect is even more pronounced when you have many more candidates in a race (Texas CD 22 has 15!).
In our current system, an observer would mistakenly believe that the Tiger was the most liked candidate in the field. However, an Approval Voting system clearly reveals voters true preferences. This has wide reaching implications – from the leaders we elect to the progressive adoption of more and more radical ideas (such as Socialism) that are held by a minority but are projected by election results as being widely accepted by American voters.
