STAR (Score Then Automatic Runoff) Voting is an innovative voting method that incorporates many of the best elements from previous proposals to better deliver on the goals of the movement. With STAR voting, voters can show both their preference order and their level of support for their candidates.
The two highest scoring candidates overall are finalists and whether or not your favorite can win your vote goes to the finalist you prefer, so you can vote your conscience and your vote makes a difference.
How it works (much like customer review ratings):
- Give your favorite candidate five stars.
- Give your last choice zero stars or leave blank.
- Equal scores are allowed.
- Score other candidates as desired.
Ballots are tallied in two rounds, a scoring round, and an automatic runoff:
All ballots are tallied and the two highest scoring candidates overall become finalists. Your full vote goes to the finalist you prefer. The finalist with the most votes wins.
Voters’ best bet is to give their favorite(s) 5 stars, to give their least favorite(s) a 0, and to show their preference order and their honest level of support. In contrast our current system has strong incentives to vote lesser evil, strategically supporting the front-runner on your side who you think can win.
This kind of herd mentality voting is a direct product of the fact that Choose-One Plurality elections are only accurate when there are two candidates in the race. When we have more than that our elections become highly prone to a phenomenon called vote splitting, where a majority who fails to come together around a single candidate can end up divided and conquered.
Having more choices and more good candidates in the race should be a good thing, but in our current system, having more candidates on your side puts you at a huge disadvantage.
In 2017 STAR Voting made waves by topping the charts for election accuracy and resilience against strategic voting in a cutting edge statistical analysis comparing voting methods (including Ranked Choice Voting - RCV). Numerous studies conducted since have confirmed these initial findings and STAR Voting has now become a leading option for real world electoral reform.
Another similar voting reform called Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) was ruled unconstitutional in some states. As a result it can only be used for some races and not others. Also, many states require a win “by plurality” and don’t allow systems where the first round finds a plurality winner, but that winner can change after subsequent rounds of counting.
Ranked Choice Voting also runs afoul of One-Person-One-Vote (http://starvoting.us/equal_vote). Due to the tournament style elimination process, some ballots will be “exhausted” and not end up being counted in the final round of voting if their 2nd or 3rd choices are eliminated early in the process. For these reasons, RCV doesn’t provide an equally-weighted vote (http://starvoting.us/equal_vote).
STAR Voting is “batch summable”. That means that STAR ballots can be counted locally, are easy to audit, and are more resilient to fraud or hacking than Ranked Choice systems.
STAR eliminates vote splitting and the “Spoiler Effect”. This is really at the heart of the matter, and is at the root of the many problems addressed by STAR Voting. The key to eliminating vote splitting is that every voter must be guaranteed an equally weighted vote (http://starvoting.us/equal_vote). Any way I vote, you should be able to cast an equal and opposite vote. The system should not play favorites.
The combination of the equal vote, the incentive and ability to vote honestly and expressively, and the non-partisan election format means that we believe STAR is our best bet to combat polarization and end 2 party domination.
Polarization, glass-ceilings, lack of representation, lack of diversity, voting for the lesser of two evils, spoilers, mud-slinging, inflated influence of money in politics, corruption, two-party domination…you name it it’s either caused by or compounded by vote-splitting and the spoiler effect.
Because STAR Voting allows voters to support multiple candidates there is no reason for a party to become divided if it has more than one faction with significant support. For example Democratic Voters could have supported both Hillary and Bernie and Republican voters could have supported both Trump and Rubio, to varying degrees.
This would allow similar candidates to campaign in coalition if they shared a platform and values. Preference voting in general has been found to encourage positive campaigns and to discourage mud-slinging!
