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STAR Voting — Curriculum (Voting 101 / 201 / 301)

The learning-path map, in three levels. Difficulty lives here, not in the folder names or in every file — so a single example can be 101 for its basic idea and reappear at 301 for the deep dive, without being duplicated or moved. (The "curriculum map, keep folders" approach; see ORGANIZATION.md.)

Each level is its own page so it can stand alone; this page is just the hub. (Keeping the content in one place per level — not copied here — is what keeps them from drifting out of sync.)

This curriculum is STAR-specific (how to learn STAR, with honest comparisons). For a method-neutral, field-wide reading path — the whole landscape in three levels, after Marcus Ogren — see How to Learn About Voting Methods.

🟢 Voting 101 — the basics

First contact, general public. The goal is intuition, not theory. The ballot, the two rounds, and the spoiler — built on the running team-lunch example, every step a runnable election. → Start Voting 101

🟡 Voting 201 — reading results & comparisons

Engaged learners, officials, the curious. Reading a full result report (the preference matrix, the runoff percentages, a real 461-ballot election), precise nomenclature, STAR vs RCV-IRV, the intro to multi-winner, and "what are we even optimizing for?" → Start Voting 201

🔴 Voting 301 — proportional, criteria, debate theory

Skeptics, academics, RCV advocates, deep self-study. Proportional STAR, then STV as its own topic, favorite betrayal, the honest limits, when Condorcet/Score/Runoff disagree, the simulation foundations of VSE, and worked claim-checks. Concede limits honestly — that candor is the credibility. → Start Voting 301

🟣 Voting 401 — failure modes & the safety check

Anyone about to choose or adopt a method. The responsible last step before you stake an election on one. No method is perfect (Arrow / Gibbard), so the skill is knowing how your favorite fails, whether the failure is real-world or lab-grade, and which whoops you can live with. The four-part test, each method's safety datasheet, the failures that really happened, and the runnable criterion-failure gallery. (Its unfair, for-sport twin is the Mudroom.) → Start Voting 401

Prefer learning by doing? The exercises set — predict-then-peek problems with tested answer keys — practices the criteria on paper-sized elections.

Suggested pacing by audience

Presenting or teaching STAR? Teaching STAR Voting turns this pacing into a full guide — the arc, the terms to cover, which example to use when, and the misconceptions to head off.

  • Public talk (15–20 min): 101 only (the problem → the two rounds → the compromise → the payoff). Skip theory.
  • Workshop (60–90 min): all of 101 + 201.1–201.4, hands-on with the files.
  • Officials / administrators: 101.0, then 201.1 (summability / audit) + the scorecard.
  • Academic / skeptic / RCV advocate: 101 fast, then 301 with the precise caveats.

Designing your own examples

See TIPS_choosing_voter_counts.md (voter counts) and ORGANIZATION.md (where scenario text lives, clean-demo flags). Term definitions: GLOSSARY.md.