Details
This week we are discussing STAR Voting, a new kind of voting system on the ballot in Eugene in 2024 that allows voters to support multiple candidates.
Our own Sass is an advocate for STAR Voting with the Equal Vote Coalition and will tell us about the story and future of the local campaign to use STAR Voting for Eugene public elections. Under STAR Voting, voters score candidates from 0 up to 5 stars. The two candidates with the most stars overall are finalists and your one full vote automatically goes to the finalist you scored higher than the other. The finalist with the most votes wins.
Advocates say that STAR Voting empowers voters to vote their conscience and facilitates elections that will elect candidates who build consensus across the electorate, as opposed to those who are the most polarizing and have the most money.
Improving democratic decision-making has been a focus for a long time in the effective altruism movement. For one overview, see "Voting Methods" (August 2022), by Marcus Ogren (https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/QCHLkgudfgbovgoan/cause-exploration-prizes-voting-methods).
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We meet every two weeks to discuss topics related to the Effective Altruism movement. Sometimes topics are not posted until fairly late but we do hold the event every couple of weeks.
We meet at Beergarden.
We are loosely aligned to the global EA movement. You can read more about the global movement here https://www.effectivealtruism.org/ or read third party summary here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effective_altruism
We strive to ensure a diverse set of voices are heard. We want to emphasize that women and non-binary people, people of color, and people of all ages, religions, belief systems, and political perspectives are welcome at our meetings to share in our common interest in effective altruism.
It is a priority to make our group a place that feels safe and welcoming for everyone who is interested in contributing to or learning from the EA movement, and in particular, to be a place that is safe and welcoming for members of groups that are currently underrepresented in our community. We expect members to respect one another at all times, and will take action to prevent inappropriate behavior.
1. If you have any concerns about the conduct of anyone in the group, please feel free to reach out to me, the organizer, Ben Smith, by messaging me on meetup (on desktop, click here) to discuss it so that we can keep our group safe and welcoming.
2. If you have any concerns but for any reason prefer not to reach out to me about them, please feel free to reach out to the Center for Effective Altruism community health team. You might reach out to them instead if the concerns are about me, or you think I'm not equipped to handle them, or for any other reason you'd just prefer to talk to the Center for Effective Altruism. You can find a form and email addresses to contact them here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScJooJD0Sm2csCYgd0Is6FkpyQa3ket8IIcFzd_FcTRU7avRg/viewform
