NEWS
B Y H E N RY H O U S TO N
WHEN YOU WISH
UPON A STAR
Lane County could become
an election pioneer by instituting
‘Score Then Automatic Runoff’ voting
S
ara Wolf says she’s heard a consensus that voters
feel the current election system doesn’t work
while campaigning for Score Then Automatic
Runoff (STAR). Equal Vote Coalition, the
campaign in support for STAR, believes STAR
can fix the system.
If Lane County voters pass Measure 20-290 in November,
the STAR experiment will start with nonpartisan races.
Supporters say the system could work on larger scale — and
in partisan — races, too. Before November, though, Eugene
Weekly will offer readers an opportunity to try STAR.
STAR voting is a two-round voting system, but voters
need cast only one ballot. Voters use a rating system on
candidates — from zero to five stars. The two candidates
with the highest overall score head to the finals.
If none of the candidates you liked make it to the second
round, your preference for finalist candidates will still be
reflected. In other words, using the 2016 presidential race
as an example, maybe you gave Jill Stein five stars. But it
came down to Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, who you
gave zero stars and two stars (respectively). Clinton still
gets your vote.
Supporters say it gets rid of casting a vote for the
“lesser evil,” and would remove any issues of voting your
conscience (like voting Green Party) because it doesn’t
have vote splitting. As a result, Mark Frohnmayer, founder
of Equal Vote Coalition, says STAR eliminates the need for
candidates and voters to feel the need to “toe the party line.”
Since politicians would have an opportunity to run a
campaign on what they truly believe, honesty in politics could
emerge, which could lead to a spectrum of political opinion on
ballots, Wolf says. She adds that while two-party domination
is baked into U.S. elections, STAR would undo that.
Frohnmayer says STAR would assist in taking big
money out of nonpartisan races. Candidates would only
have to raise money for one election — rather than both
primary and general elections.
“Voters no longer have to support only one of the two
most well-funded candidates,” he says.
This could mean grassroots candidates would have a
chance to win an election.
“In STAR voting, you could have a candidate run purely
grassroots, and voters wouldn’t have this disincentive to
HALLIE ROBERTS CANVASSES
VOTERS FOR STAR CAMPAIGN
P H O T O BY AT H E N A D E L E N E
support them,” Frohnmayer says. “We may be pleasantly
surprised that we find out a less-funded candidate that we
all like actually wins the job in STAR voting”
Frohnmayer adds that, for example, Buch and Williams
(the finalists for the East Lane County Commissioner
position) have to “go back to the well” and ask their donors
for more money for the general election.
Current campaign activity records show that Williams
has received $110,000 in campaign contributions, with
large contributions from timber and construction firms
such as Seneca Jones Timber Co. On the other hand, Buch
has received $107,811, with largest contributions from
unions such as AFSCME.
STAR would remove a need for primary elections,
which historically have lower turnouts. For example, the
midterm primary election in May had a turnout rate of 36
percent. That election, however, had three commissioner
positions up for grabs.
Frohnmayer says that, although STAR is only on the
ballot for nonpartisan races, he believes it could be used
in partisan elections or, at the least, lawmakers in Salem
could allow STAR be used statewide for nonpartisan races.
“It could save counties a ton of money in election
administration,” he says.
Frohnmayer adds that STAR could lead to more civility
in politics.
Another alternative election format, ranked-choice
voting, is in use. Ranked choice voting has voters assign
their preference for candidates in order, so politicians
who rely on dirty campaign tactics could be penalized by
receiving lower rankings.
Although STAR supporters see ranked-choice voting
as a flawed alternative to the current election process, the
state of Maine now has ranked-choice voting for statewide
elections. A side product of ranked-choice voting is that it
can influence more civility in politics, says Kyle Bailey,
spokesman for the Committee for Ranked Choice Voting.
“It’s been a game changer with our politics,” he says.
Maine politicians felt threatened by the change and
opposed the reform, he adds. Voters approved the change
to ranked-choice voting, but the Maine Legislature vetoed
the law.
However, Maine voters, who supported the new ballot,
challenged that veto through a “people’s veto,” a ballot
initiative to overrule the Maine lawmakers.
Frohnmayer says STAR voting fixes some of the
problems found in ranked-choice voting, such as that it
doesn’t maintain the rule of one person, one vote.
The main backer for the STAR ballot measure is STAR
Voting for Lane County committee. The committee has
received nearly $56,000 in contributions. Most of the
contributions come from Frohnmayer, founder of Equal
Vote Coalition and a Eugene-based entrepreneur known
for the Arcimoto electric car company, according to the
Oregon Secretary of State records on campaign activity.
Equal Vote Coalition tried to have STAR on the ballot
in Multnomah County for the general election but didn’t
gather enough signatures by the deadline.
Although Lane County voters will decide STAR’s fate
in future elections, EW’s “Best Of Eugene” election will
serve as a guinea pig for STAR. ▪
Best
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