MultDems Reorg Meeting Uses a Fair and Efficient System to Elect Party Officers and Reps

At the Multnomah County Democrats Reorganization meeting on January 25, PCPs will once again be participating in STAR Voting to elect party representatives in races with more than two candidates. STAR stands for Score Then Automatic Runoff, and it allows for smooth party elections.

Standing Rule 14, which will govern STAR Voting at the Reorganization meeting, is posted now at Multnomah County Democrats Standing Rules.

In September 2019, MultDems voted by a supermajority to adopt STAR Voting for all internal elections with three or more candidates. Officers are now elected using single-winner STAR Voting, and for multi-winner races such as for State Central Committee and congressional district delegates, Bloc STAR is used. In 2021, the state party Election Integrity Caucus released its Alternative Voting Methods Report, in which STAR Voting emerged as the method that best met criteria called for in our state party platform. 

Here’s a video explaining how STAR Voting works:

STAR Voting Doesn’t Play Favorites
This voting method is a game-changer for democracy, and MultDems has used this voting method successfully several times to elect officers and delegates in local party elections.

The State Central Committee and Congressional delegations are mandated by the Democratic Party of Oregon and Democratic National Committee to be gender balanced. The MultDems Credentials Committee must run the STAR balloting for those elections, and then set the delegations with the top vote-getters with that mandate dictating the final delegation composition. Nominees will be asked to identify if they are female, male or nonbinary.  Nominees who decline to state will be considered nonbinary. 

As Sara Wolk of the Equal Vote Coalition noted, STAR voting allows for inclusive and democratic election results. Candidates from traditionally underrepresented communities do well under this system. STAR Voting “doesn’t play favorites, where every vote makes a difference, and where voting your conscience is the best strategy.”

At the Reorganization meeting, PCPs will score their favorite candidates, using 1 to 5 stars. Unlike Ranked Choice Voting, voters can give more than one candidate the same star rating. The ballots will look something like this:

To learn more about how STAR Voting works, including single-winner and Bloc methods, read Sara Wolk’s article in the County Democrat Reader, and visit StarVoting.org.