Ratings ballot
A ratings ballot is a ballot on which candidates are rated on a cardinal scale. For example, candidates in an election could be rated from 0 to 99 or from -5 to 5 or from 1 to 10. Generally you will gave the candidate you like least the lowest score (0,-5 or 1) and the candidate you like the most the highest score (99,5 or 10).
An Approval Voting ballot can be considered as a ratings ballot with two possible ratings 1 (approve) and 0 (disapprove). Under conditions of strategy (rational voters wishing to obtain the best outcome for themselves with perfect knowledge of how all other voters will vote) a rating ballot with more than 2 rating points should become identical to an Approval ballot with all candidates being given either the highest or lowest rating.
Ratings ballots can be converted to preferential ballots.
| Rating (0 to 99) | Preference order | |
|---|---|---|
| Candidate A | 99 | First |
| Candidate B | 20 | Third |
| Candidate C | 20 | Third |
| Candidate D | 55 | Second |
This requires the voting system to accommodate a voter's indifference between two candidates (as in Ranked Pairs or Schulze method).