• chetradley@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    29
    ·
    6 months ago

    I’m a fan of STAR voting myself, but anything is better than the first past the post system we have now.

    • venusaur@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      14
      ·
      6 months ago

      If Star has traction in your city I say go for it! RCV just seems to have the most momentum.

    • neidu2@feddit.nl
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      6 months ago

      Could you give a quick primer on what STAR voting is? I got a star from my teacher some 30 years ago, but somehow I doubt the system is based on those…

      • chetradley@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        5
        ·
        edit-2
        6 months ago

        STAR, or Score Then Automatic Runoff, differs from RCV in that instead of ranking the candidates in order of preference, you can assign a rating to each, out of five stars. All of the stars are added for each candidate (score), and the ones with the fewest stars are eliminated (automatic runoff), then the scores are added again, another runoff, etc.

        So say you love candidate C, you dislike candidate B, and you hate candidate A.

        • In an RCV system, you’d rank C,B,A, and if C is eliminated, your full support goes behind B, but in the initial scoring round, only your top ranked candidate gets your full vote.
        • In a STAR system, you’d maybe give C five stars, B two stars, and A zero stars. You’re still giving some support to B for the initial scoring round, but most of your support goes to C.

        So the biggest difference is that in the initial scoring round, your preference for candidates other than your first choice are considered. Check out this video, which gives a good breakdown of voting systems and how they account for spoilage: https://youtu.be/oFqV2OtJOOg?si=8sLYiYpA7EnOt94i