Draft:The Equal Vote Coalition

The Equal Vote Coalition is an American electoral reform advocacy group that advocates for STAR Voting, Approval Voting, and other voting methods that pass the "Equality Criterion", thereby eliminating vote-splitting. These methods empower voters to vote their conscience and level the playing field, thus leading to more representative elections.

The Equal Vote Coalition was established in 2014. Initially focused in Oregon, the coalition has since expanded its efforts across the United States and internationally, engaging with researchers and activists to promote voting equality.

The Equal Vote Coalition's mandate is education, coalition building, and research on voting reform.

Mission and Goals
The mission of the Equal Vote Coalition is to fight for true equality in the vote itself. The coalition believes that the current voting methods are inherently unequal, leading to negative consequences such as the outsized influence of money in politics, hyper-partisan rancor, and widespread electoral disenchantment[2].

"Our five core principles for electoral reform mandate that proposals we support empower Honesty, Equality, Accuracy, Expressiveness, and Simplicity. These criteria form the basis by which we evaluate and advance proposals for better voting." [1][2].

STAR Voting
STAR Voting (Score Then Automatic Runoff) is the flagship initiative of the Equal Vote Coalition. In STAR Voting, voters use a 5-star ballot to rate candidates, and the two highest-scoring candidates proceed to an automatic runoff. This method aims to eliminate vote splitting and the spoiler effect, encouraging more positive campaigning and fairer elections[1][2].

Other Voting Methods
In addition to STAR Voting, the Equal Vote Coalition supports other voting methods that align with its core principles. These include Approval Voting and certain Condorcet methods like Ranked Robin. The coalition believes that these methods can also help achieve a more equal and representative voting system[1][2].

Equal Vote has also advocated for the "Unified Primary" system, which consists of an Approval voting primary election followed by a top two runoff general election.

Community Education and Coalition Building
The Equal Vote Coalition is committed to community education and coalition building. The organization conducts and supports research, educates communities about voting reform, and builds coalitions to advance its mission. The coalition hosts events such as outreach hours, monthly meetings, and chapter meetings to engage and mobilize activists[1][2].

Election Implementation and Consulting
The Equal Vote Coalition works with organizations interested in adopting and using recommended voting methods, offering consulting, presentations, resources, and election hosting services. STAR Voting has been adopted and used by the Multnomah County Democratic Party for all internal elections, the Democratic Party of Oregon for the presidential delegate elections, and the Independent Party of Oregon for use in their primary elections.

Under the STAR Elections Project, the Equal Vote Coalition develops and offers a number of online voting resources where users can try STAR Voting, including at star.vote for simple polls, a Google Forms implementation for STAR Voting, and resources for paper ballot elections, among others.

History
The Equal Vote Coalition was established in 2014 by Mark Frohnmayer who co-invented the STAR Voting system, and was incorporated as a 501c3 nonprofit in 2019. Since then, it has been run by Executive Director Sara Wolk and the coalition's board of directors. Initially focused on Oregon, the coalition has since expanded its efforts across the United States and internationally, engaging with researchers and activists to promote voting equality.

The organization's first proposal was a 2014 campaign for the "Unified Primary" system in Oregon, which incorporated a non-partisan Approval voting primary with a top-two runoff[6]. The Unified Primary system has since been adopted and is used in St. Louis, Missouri.