If Monday's electronic voting succeeds, then the Comelec might start considering the next step to a better electoral process in our country.
As usually happens, several candidates run for a position that requires only ONE winner, like the presidency. Often, the winning candidate does not get the majority vote. He wins by obtaining the largest MINORITY vote.
Several years back, Steven Brams, a political scientist and game theorist at New York University proposed a new way of voting called Approval Voting (AV) wherein the winner wins by CONSENSUS, not by the largest minority vote. Perhaps the Comelec can consider this an option because this is more in keeping with the essence of democracy.
Traditional elections connect the vote with the voter. This explains the principle: ''One person, one vote.'' Brams considers this anachronistic. AV connects the vote with the CANDIDATE, not with the voter. This way, AV is more egalitarian and affords voters an opportunity to express the varying intensity of their preference because it does not restrict them to casting only one vote in a multi-candidate election.
If we use AV in tomorrow's election, a voter can vote for as many presidential and vice-presidential candidates of his choice. He can vote for Bayani Fernando, for instance, and still vote for another candidate whom he approves of, but not as strongly as he does Fernando. During the counting, both candidates will receive one vote each. The candidate with the most approval votes wins the election.
In Approval Voting, the voter avoids the attitude of ''either-or.'' In an election where there are many presidential and vice presidential candidates, voters will no longer be brainwashed into thinking that if their candidate is good, the others are necessarily bad. Also, voters who cannot decide whom to vote among the several candidates need not despair about making a choice. By not being forced to make a SINGLE - perhaps arbitrary - choice, they will feel that the election system allows them to be more honest and flexible, which will make voting more meaningful and encourage greater voter turnout.
AV will dispel the fear that a strong candidate will lose simply because his supporters will be split by one or two weaker candidates. It will also minimize mudslinging because candidates will not risk alienating the supporters of other candidates and losing their approval. Also, in AV, minority candidates will receive their true level of support. Their supporters will not desert them simply because there is another candidate who, though less appealing to them, is considered a stronger contender. Because AV allows these voters to vote for BOTH candidates, the election returns will reflect better the overall acceptability of candidates.
