About Us

Equal Vote is a grassroots powered organization driven by our mission and the passion of our volunteer base. The driving force behind the STAR Voting movement and a leading proponent of equitable voting methods in general, The Equal Vote Coalition is a registered 501c3 non-profit. Since our genesis in 2014 the The Equal Vote Coalition has grown and evolved significantly. Learn more about our coalition partners and projects and apply to join the coalition here

 

Our Mission: 

Our current voting method is inherently unequal, and this inequality has decidedly negative consequences: outsized influence of money in politics, hyper-partisan rancor, and widespread electoral disenchantment.

"The Equal Vote Coalition’s mission is to promote true equality in the vote. We conduct and support top-notch research, educate communities, and build coalitions.

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."

 

Meet the Team:


 

Mark Frohnmayer 

Co-inventor of STAR Voting
Founder and Board Director at Equal Vote
[email protected] (he/him)

Mark graduated from UC Berkeley in 1996 with a degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. After 11 years in the gaming industry and the sale of his first startup, Mark turned his entrepreneurial energy towards sustainable transportation and election science, founding electric vehicle company, Arcimoto, in 2007, and the Equal Vote Coalition in 2014.

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Annie Kallen

President at Equal Vote
Board Director at STAR Voting Action
[email protected] (she/her)

Annie is an electoral reform organizer living in Portland, Oregon. She served on the Multnomah County Charter Review Committee in 2021-2022. She loves educating about voting method reform in accessible and entertaining ways, whether through writing, presentations, or animated videos. Her goal is to help people in underserved regions acquire more of a say in their communities, and to increase the ability for independents and the politically voiceless to have equal participation in local, federal, and world politics. She received an English degree from Portland State University, and has worked for a renewable energy company for the last 15 years. In her free time she sews, dances, does 3D design, and enjoys learning new things.

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Andrea Denault

Vice President at Equal Vote
Board Director at STAR Voting Action
[email protected] (she/they)

 

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Ruben Montejano

President at STAR Voting Action
Board Director at Equal Vote
Outreach Coordinator for STAR Voting California
[email protected] (he/him)

Ruben Michael Montejano has been an advocate for voting reform since 2018 and helped start-up the STAR Voting California Chapter. Moreover, he focuses on conservation for natives plants in his local areas and is currently a student as well as a Behavior Interventionist. In his spare time, Ruben is probably hiking, planting, researching a variety of topics from plant conservation to voting reform, or relaxing with family and/or friends.

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Sara Wolk

Executive Director and Secretary at Equal Vote and STAR Voting Action
[email protected] (she/her)

Sara Wolk has been a leading force behind the STAR Voting project since the beginning. ​Sara was a Chief Petitioner for the first ballot initiative for STAR Voting in Multnomah County and also worked on the STAR Voting for Eugene campaign before taking on her current post as the Executive Director of the Equal Vote Coalition in 2018. With a background in sustainability and design, and a passion for music, adventure, and community organizing, she is dedicated to building the kind of coalition that can heal democracy. Systemic problems require design based solutions.

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Dean Price

Treasurer at Equal Vote and STAR Voting Action
[email protected] (he/him)

 

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Duncan Siror

Vice President at STAR Voting Action
Board Director at Equal Vote
[email protected] (he/him) 

Duncan has been fervently involved with the STAR Voting project since 2021. He helped launch the STAR Voting Georgia chapter, where he served as the Volunteer Coordinator. Duncan now resides in Columbus, OH, continuing to advocate for STAR and electoral reform as a whole. He's working to create connections and alliances across the city and the state.

Outside of STAR, Duncan works in IT and is a huge fan of Halo and Super Smash Bros. He also enjoys learning other languages. In addition to electoral reform, public transit and labor rights are top concerns for him.

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James "Jas" Davis

Board Director at Equal Vote and STAR Voting Action
[email protected] (he/him)

Jas graduated with a Masters in Political Management, is the owner of Awakenings Wellness Center in Portland, Oregon and was a past chair for the Oregon Public Bank Alliance. Jas has been an activist and community organizer for decades. He is a devoted father who enjoys hiking and camping in his spare time.

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Dr. Keith Edmonds Phd.

Board Director at Equal Vote
Director of Canadian Electoral Research
Co-Chair, 0-5 Star Proportional Research Committee
[email protected] (he/him)

Keith Edmonds is a Data Scientist by profession and a Physicist by training. He is the Director of Canadian Electoral Research for the Equal Vote Coalition. He invented Vote Unitarity and subsequently derived Sequentially Spent Score from its principle. He also derived Single distributed vote as a more natural extension of Sequential proportional approval voting to Score voting ballots than Reweighted Range Voting. He invented STLR voting as a Utilitarian alternative to STAR voting for single winner elections.

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Dr. Jameson Quinn Phd.

Board Director at Equal Vote
PhD in Statistics from Harvard University
[email protected] (he/him)

Dr. Jameson Quinn's decades-long interest in advancing voting theory has driven him to many relevant accomplishments including completing a PhD in statistics from Harvard, scientific research such as his work on Voter Satisfaction Efficiency, co-organizing the British Columbia Symposium on Proportional Representation, and assisting in the design of the voting system now used to maintain the integrity of the Hugo AwardsJameson has regularly made his household in Cambridge, Massachusetts a home for refugees.

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Sass

Operations Coordinator and Board Director at Equal Vote
[email protected] (they/them)

Sass began their deep dive into voting method reform in 2020 and quickly discovered a passion for it. They have a relentless passion for voter empowerment and attribute much of their growth in the voting method reform space to the welcoming and inclusive culture nurtured at Equal Vote. Sass is eager to dabble in new and diverse escapades, with experience ranging from music writing, to political activism, to martial arts. If you ever find yourself in the Eugene, OR area, be sure to ask Sass to go sing some karaoke with you!

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Mont Chris Hubbard

Board Director at STAR Voting Action
Chair at STAR Voting Oregon
[email protected] (he/him)

Like many, Mont Chris has felt forced to vote "lesser evil" many times, and would prefer that never happen again. Mont Chris is the Secretary-Treasurer of the Musicians Union Local 99 and helped get his union to adopt STAR Voting. When he's not talking about voting methods and unionism to city commissioners, state legislators, or cornered family members at Thanksgiving, Mont Chris enjoys playing music and board games.

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Mike Franze

Board Director at STAR Voting Action
Chair of STAR Voting California
Chair of the STAR Elections Software Development Team
[email protected] (he/him)

Mike has been involved in the voting reform community since 2017 with his primary goal of ending extreme political polarization. He joined the Equal Vote Coalition as a volunteer in 2020 and has helped start the STAR Voting California chapter and various STAR Voting software development projects. Mike graduated from Georgia Tech in 2015 with a Master’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering.

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Coalition Core:


 

The Equal Vote Coalition 501-c3

"The Equal Vote Coalition's mission is to promote true equality in the vote. The Equal Vote Coalition mandate is top-notch research, community education, and coalition building.

Our five core criteria for electoral reform are: Equality, Honesty, Accuracy, Expressiveness, and Simplicity. These criteria form the basis by which we evaluate and advance proposals for reform."


 

STAR Voting Action 501c4

STAR Voting Action serves as an umbrella organization for all STAR Voting campaigns, better allowing us to fundraise in advance, and to share resources between campaigns. The 501c4 allows donors to support the project as a whole, and then allows us to direct those funds to the campaign which needs the funding most, when they need it most.


 

STAR Elections

STAR Elections was launched in order to meet the demand to help host STAR Voting elections. While hosting your own elections with STAR will always remain free, we also offer election consulting and officiation. All proceeds from STAR Elections go to the STAR Voting Action 501c4 non-profit fund.


 

Learn more about our coalition here