We introduce STAR Voting as a single-winner voting method which should be considered to replace Plurality Voting for governmental elections. The five star ballot offers an expressive and user-friendly interface which, as we demonstrate, treats political factions equally regardless of how many candidates they field or their position in the political spectrum. We discuss a number of criteria for voting methods relating to strategic voting and vote-splitting. We assess how well these voting methods incentivize and empower voters to voice their honest opinions, and how well these methods allow voters to gain equitable representation. Using a realistic clustered spatial model for voter ideologies, we present the metrics of Voter Satisfaction Efficiency (VSE) and Average Strategic Regret (ASR) to evaluate voting methods with a high degree of granularity. We find that STAR Voting and Smith/Minimax are among the best methods as measured by VSE, markedly outperforming Plurality, Top-Two Runoff, and Instant Runoff. We find that STAR Voting, and especially Smith/Minimax, substantially reduce the need for voters to consider candidate electability as they cast their ballots. We conclude that STAR Voting offers a viable and compelling proposal for more equitable and more representative elections, both for individual voters and for the electorate as a whole.