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Score voting

voting method where voters give each candidate a numeric score

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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionMar 13, 2026
Entity authorityQ852733
Source-derived summary

Score voting, sometimes called range voting, is an electoral system for single-seat elections. Voters give each candidate a numerical score, and the candidate with the highest average score is elected. Score voting includes the well-known approval voting (used to calculate approval ratings), but also lets voters give partial (in-between) approval ratings to candidates.

Usage

Political use

Historical

A crude form of score voting was used in some elections in ancient Sparta, by measuring how loudly the crowd shouted for different candidates. This has a modern-day analog of using clapometers in some television shows and the judging processes of some athletic competitions.

Beginning in the 13th century, the Republic of Venice elected the Doge of Venice using a multi-stage process with multiple rounds of score voting. This may have contributed to the Republic's longevity, being partly responsible for its status as the longest-lived democracy in world history. Score voting was used in Greek legislative elections beginning in 1864, during which time it had a many-party system; it was replaced with party-list proportional representation in 1923.

According to Steven J. Brams, approval was used for some elections in 19th century England.

Current

Score voting is used to elect candidates who represent parties in Latvia's Saeima (parliament) in an open list system.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Score voting” as voting method where voters give each candidate a numeric score. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Score, voting and method.

Editorial reviewA dependable orientation record for establishing vocabulary, names and a first evidence trail. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1864, 1923—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Score, voting and method providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

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A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Score voting”, the useful work is to connect “voting method where voters give each candidate a numeric score” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 13, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q852733. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1864 and 1923.

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Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Score voting” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.