---
title: "Approval and Score Voting Tally (with STAR) | Common Cove"
description: "Tally approval or score voting: tick or score each option by hand or paste a spreadsheet, elect one or more winners, add a STAR runoff, export CSV."
url: https://commoncove.sbs/approval-score-voting/
---

# Approval and score voting tally

Choose a date, a venue, a name or a committee by approval or score voting. Enter the ballots or paste them, and see the totals, any ties and, if you like, a STAR runoff between the top two.

Result

Saturday 10am wins

12 approvals. 20 ballots counted.

### Approvals

Approvals per candidate

- Saturday 10am Elected 12 · 60.0%
- Thursday 6:30pm 11 · 55.0%
- Tuesday 7pm 10 · 50.0%
- Sunday 2pm 9 · 45.0%

| Place | Candidate | Approvals | Of ballots |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | Saturday 10amElected | 12 | 60.0% |
| 2 | Thursday 6:30pm | 11 | 55.0% |
| 3 | Tuesday 7pm | 10 | 50.0% |
| 4 | Sunday 2pm | 9 | 45.0% |

## Approval or score?

In approval voting each voter ticks every option they find acceptable, and the most approvals wins. In score voting each voter rates every option, say from 0 to 5, and the highest total wins. Both suit decisions where people can live with several choices: a meeting night, a venue, a team name, a shortlist.

## How to use it

Pick the method and list the options, then add one row per different ballot with how many people voted that way. Or paste a sheet with the options across the top and a mark or score under each; a Count column is optional. Blank scores count as zero.

- **Seats:** elect the top one to ten. A tie across the last place is shown, never settled for you.
- **More than half:** for approval, a winner must also be ticked on a majority of ballots.
- **Automatic runoff (STAR):** the two highest totals face a runoff, and each ballot counts for the finalist it scored higher; equal scores count as no preference.

Collecting the votes through an online form first? Before you send the link to members, run through it yourself with a throwaway address from [CleanTempMail](https://cleantempmail.com/), so the confirmation emails land in a temporary inbox instead of your own.

## Sources

- STAR Voting, [How does STAR Voting work?](https://www.starvoting.org/) (score 0 to 5, blanks as zero, the two highest-scoring candidates go to an automatic runoff).

## Questions

**Which method should we use?**

Use what your rules allow. Approval is the quickest to explain and count. Scores show how strongly people feel, and the STAR runoff then checks which of the top two more voters prefer.

**What happens with a tie?**

The tally shows it and stops there, so you can settle it the way your rules say, for example with a fresh vote between the tied options.

**Can I paste results from an online form?**

Yes. Most forms export one row per voter: paste it as it is, with the option names in the first row. Columns such as a timestamp are best removed first.

**Are the ballots stored?**

Only in this browser's local storage, so they are here when you come back. Clear all removes them; nothing is uploaded.