History

Approval voting was developed as the hallmarks of a successful government in Renaissance Venice and Athens Sparta. Today, these two empires are known for their impressive government and democratic systems. While approval voting was most likely used since ancient times, it was not defined until the late 20th century. In 1968, a man called Guy Otwell explicitly defined the meaning of approval voting, and during the 70s, many scientists and mathematicians continued developing their own definitions of this voting methodology. In the 80s, several prolific scientific and engineering societies, including the Mathematical Association of America and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, formally recognized approval voting.

Approval voting is used globally. It has been used in thousands of elections in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe in the 80s, and since 1979, China has used approval voting to elect members to its National People's Congress.