By Lora Roberts.
A common misconception is that Approval Voting gives more weight to voters who vote for more candidates. To see why this isn't the case, imagine a tied election between a liberal and two conservatives. Chip casts a vote for the liberal, while Ralphie casts an opposing vote for the two conservatives. Does this give Ralphie extra voting power? No. After Chip and Ralphie have voted, the election is still tied. Chip and Ralphie have an opposite but equal effect on the election. Another way to think of it is that if you vote for all candidates, that has the same effect as not voting at all. The key here is that no voter has an unfair advantage. Effectively, every voter casts an "aye" or "nay" vote for every candidate.