Coloradans have 22 presidential contenders to choose from this election. Affiliations include the nutritionist or pacifist parties, and several shades of socialism and prohibition. One ticket includes a pair of Coloradans - Frank Atwood and Blake Huber.
Atwood lives in Littleton, Huber in southeast Denver. They are both libertarians, but this year they are on the presidential ballot under the Approval Voting Party. They say, because of our voting system, there is no way for citizens such as themselves to honestly participate in the election process.
“People who have voted all their lives can say, ‘I don’t have to hold my nose, I can truly express myself,’” said Huber.
What they are pushing for is one little tweak to our nation's voting system of one person/one vote. Instead, it would be one person/one ballot. When you see the list of candidates, the instruction would be not “choose one” but “choose one or more.”
This is based on a theory popularized by New York University professor Steven Brams. He said there are two benefits to the system, the primary one being that it eliminates a split vote.
“There is no problem with plurality voting in a two-candidate race because one or the other candidate will win with the majority,” explained Brams. “But If there are three or more candidates, their vote can be divided and the winner might get far less than a majority and may be quite unpopular. They may be a candidate on the far left or far right. Approval voting tends to ameliorate that problem.”
The second benefit approval-voting junkies see is more psychological. It gets rid of the disenfranchisement that has characterized this election. Atwood turns to the low voter approval numbers of both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump to point out the public doesn’t feel represented when they look at their ballots.
“When you are allowed to express your opinion about all of the candidates, you will be less frustrated less angry more involved and a higher level of leadership will evolve seeing as know you are competing over issues and no longer personalities,” Atwood said.
twood and Huber know they will not be moving to the White House in January. Colorado is the only state they are even on the ballot. Huber isn’t voting for himself, he’s gonna stick with the libertarian ticket.
Their mission is to bring awareness to the system of approval voting. It has a cult-like following. A couple of notable math societies use the system to choose their presidents. There are colleges who choose their student leaders this way. Academic departments, such as Brams’ choose their chairs through approval voting. Even the pope is chosen through approval voting. Atwood suggests groups of friends give it a try to see how effective it is.
“When you are with friends deciding on a restaurant, you are not scared to mention the cute thai restaurant around the corner. You might be the only advocate for it - but you are still in the mix for voting on the other restaurant choices. You are not told that you have wasted your vote by casting it for a restaurant that has no chance.”
One of the biggest problems Huber said they are up against with approval voting is the concept itself.
“Some people just don’t get it and we are trying to figure out why that is.” said Huber.
Brams also concedes the system is just too foreign to have caught on yet.
“Because it’s a radically new idea i think it would get some getting used to,” Brams said.
Brams has been publishing research on approval voting since the late ‘70s and has seen time and time again how it could have re-written american politics. Third parties would have placed better and political extremists would have placed lower. Just this year, calculations show that within the 17-person republican primary field, Trump would have been around 8th place using approval voting. And, a strong third party candidate would have been likely.
Mike Bloomberg considered running for president in March of this year, but thought he would be taking away votes from Hillary Clinton.
“So I think our system tends to leave out candidates like that who would be more acceptable to voters than the candidates that we have,” said Brams.
For the pair on the approval voting presidential ticket, they think Colorado is the place to implement a system like this. A third of the state’s voters are registered independents, and in some ways locked out of the political process. Atwood has consulted with county clerks who say it would be a cheap and easy switch to consensus voting. Huber says it puts an end to the criticism that people who don’t vote for republicans or democrats are wasting their vote.
“It’s all about shame: Shame on you for running as an independent, shame on you for not being part of the R’s or the D’s. Shame on you for voting for an independent because you know that person can’t win. Well that’s true because you only have one precious choice. We need to change this choose-one system to something that includes all of us.”
Huber retired two weeks ago, he spends his time with his aging mother. Atwood is also retired, he lives with his wife, son. The team knows this campaign trail won’t lead to the presidency - but they hope it will lead to a more inclusive democracy.