Start Here¶
This is the STAR Voting education library — for learning, teaching, and debating STAR Voting (Score Then Automatic Runoff). STAR comes first here. What makes the case for it trustworthy is that we don't hide the ball: STAR is tested honestly against every method it's compared to, with a real tabulation engine and runnable example elections behind every claim. The even-handedness is the argument — the STAR case is stronger because you can check it yourself.
Pick your path — what brings you here?
⭐ Learn STAR Voting¶
The main event — and it has its own front door now. 01_STAR carries the whole STAR reading path in one place: the gentle on-ramp, why STAR, how the two rounds work, the FAQ, the hands-on demos, and the runnable example elections, with the concept pages beside them in 01_STAR/01_Learn/.
Straight to the on-ramp → STAR — start here. The full course → Curriculum — Voting 101 / 201 / 301.
Everything below this line is the cross-method material: the problem STAR is built to fix, the honest comparisons, and the library itself.
What's wrong with how we vote now?¶
The problem STAR is built to fix — start here if you're new to voting reform.
- Choose-One / Plurality (FPTP) — the status quo, and why it breaks with more than two candidates
- The spoiler effect — the core failure
- Center squeeze — how even ranked methods can eliminate the consensus candidate
- Two-party dominance — is it good or bad, and what actually changes it
- Alaska 2022 — a real RCV-IRV failure (spoiler + center squeeze + non-monotonicity in one race)
Why STAR over the alternatives?¶
The honest comparison — where STAR's case is actually made.
- Scores vs. ranks — the ballot distinction everything turns on
- Choosing among the Equal Vote methods — STAR vs. Approval vs. Ranked Robin, the tradeoff triangle, even-handed
- RCV-IRV vs. STAR — head-to-head with the method most people mean by "RCV"
- Strategic voting — the four kinds of insincere vote, and why honesty pays in STAR
- Skeptical? STAR for skeptics — the honest 5-minute path — "you think this is weird, what's the catch?", answered without cheerleading
- More than one seat? Electing more than one, simply — majoritarian vs. proportional, in plain language
The whole field, even-handed¶
The credibility layer — read the arguments against, too.
- How to Learn About Voting Methods — a method-neutral reading path, beginner → advanced (after Marcus Ogren)
- The mathematics of social choice — which maths each branch of the field actually needs, in study order, with the proportional-representation stack broken out
- Books on Voting Methods — an annotated shelf of the popular and scholarly books, with covers and an honest "the lean" on each
- Same ballots, different methods — where methods disagree, worked (center squeeze, monotonicity, the divergence ledger, paradoxes & whoops)
- Honest limits — every method's weaknesses, stated plainly: STAR · Approval · Ranked Robin
- Who champions each method — FairVote, CES, the Equal Vote Coalition
Run & verify elections (the library + engine)¶
The thing that makes every claim above checkable.
- Repository & Engine Guide — how to tabulate a file, import a BetterVoting export, run the tests
- The YAML test-case index — every example election, grouped by method · BetterVoting-backed cases
- Why YAML? — one file a person reads and a computer runs
Reference¶
- Glossary — every term, precisely defined
- Ballot & terminology basics — the four "RCV" confusions people get wrong
The methods, one page each:
| Method | Ballot | Learn more |
|---|---|---|
| STAR | score 0–5, then automatic runoff | STAR — start here → |
| Approval | approve any number (0/1) | Approval overview → |
| Range / Score | grade each; highest total wins | Range / Score overview → |
| Ranked Robin (Condorcet) | rank; every pair head-to-head | Ranked Robin overview → |
| RCV-IRV | rank; instant runoff | RCV-IRV (Hare) → |
| 3-2-1 | Good / OK / Bad | 3-2-1 overview → |