Since our founding in 2011, The Center for Election Science (CES) has become the nation's leading organization advancing approval voting through research, education, advocacy, and on-the-ground implementation. To date, we’ve helped cities adopt approval voting, supported legislative champions in multiple states, and built a robust evidence base to improve our elections.

In 2025, CES made major progress toward real-world pilots, legislative breakthroughs, community partnerships, and empirical research that will influence election reform nationally. This year alone, we worked across multiple states, strengthening both bipartisan coalitions and local civic movements. We also expanded our data and legislative capacity, enabling faster response to emerging political windows—several of which appeared in Utah and Maryland.

We will update this post in January 2026 to include final developments from the remainder of 2025.

Approval voting is a straightforward, voter-friendly method where individuals can select (“approve”) as many candidates as they wish, rather than being restricted to choosing only one. This small shift creates a major improvement in how elections function. Instead of forcing voters to strategize, guess electability, or worry about “wasting” their vote, approval voting allows them to express their full and honest preferences.

Under approval voting, the [...]

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Outline:

(00:13) Overview

(01:16) What is Approval Voting?

(03:22) Why This Reform and Why Now?

(04:51) I. Background

(06:44) II. A Year in Review

(06:49) Key Numbers and Reach (2025)

(07:14) Program Distribution

(07:19) By Intervention Type

(08:16) By Geography

(09:10) Highlighted Projects

(09:20) Utah Special Election (Live Approval Voting Implementation)

(10:00) Cumberland & Frederick, Maryland Pilot Pathway

(10:23) SurveyUSA Statewide Voter Study

(10:45) III. Organizational Updates

(10:54) Operations

(11:12) Transparency & Communications

(11:31) Research & Evaluation

(11:59) Funding & Development

(12:18) IV. Future Plans (2026 & Beyond)

(12:23) Pilot Implementation

(12:46) Legislative Momentum

(13:02) Research Expansion

(13:18) Infrastructure & Capacity

(13:36) V. Room for More Funding

(14:30) VI. The Path Forward

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.