The Green Party had two excellent candidates this year, and both deserve hearty congratulations for getting thousands of votes in elections where they were largely blacked out from the tv, radio and newspapers from which most voters get their news. In both races, despite the blackouts of our campaigns, the Green Party candidate was the most popular choice of alternative candidates with the voters of Colorado.
- 2010 U.S. Senate Candidate Bob Kinsey
Green U.S. Senate Candidate Bob Kinsey said, “I hope some creative polling organization will now discover how many voters voted for Bennet only because they feared getting Buck or the other way around and who they would have at the top of their Instant Runoff Vote ballot this year. The other statistic we need is how many never heard about Gary and I till they saw our name on the ballot. The election only told us that 36,323 had the ganas to say they wanted to vote their values, not play games, and liked Green Party specificity on issues. How may others wanted to do that but felt they had to vote their fears instead. Rather than the blather from pundits why don’t political sites gather this data?!?! – Could I or Gary have won in an instant runoff voting system?”
- 2010 U.S. Rep. Candidate Gary Swing
Green U.S. Congressional Candidate Gary Swing said, “The more things don’t change, the more they stay the same. The United States doesn’t have real elections. The corporate mass media only covers establishment candidates, ignoring dissidents. Public offices are auctioned off to the highest bidder. The winner-take-all voting system prevents fair representation and obstructs reform. Proportional representation would enable most voters to elect representatives of their choice and make every vote count. Legitimate elections require proportional representation voting systems, public campaign financing, caps on campaign spending, open forums including all candidates on the ballot, and fair media access.”
Nationally, this year it appears the Democrats are paying the price for promising “Change”, but then failing to deliver “Change”. The wars still continue, we’ve had the worst environmental disaster in history, and in the words of one congressperson, the bankers still own the Congress. Yesterday, the Democrats paid the political price for failing to deliver the change that they had so enthusiastically promised in 2008.
In retrospect, all the rhetoric about ‘change’ in 2008 appears to have been political hot air. Which leaves the Green Party where it always has been…. As the best real chance for real change available to the people of Colorado.
Come help us build a grassroots movement for real change! Get involved with your local Green Party today, and help organize the Green Party in your town or neighborhood.
U.S. Senate Race
97% reporting ( 3177 precincts )
- Michael Bennet (Dem) 47.7% (799,072)
- Ken Buck (GOP) 46.8% (783,426)
- Bob Kinsey (Grn) 2.1% (36,323)*
- Maclyn Stringer (Lib) 1.2% (20,979)
- Jason Napolitano (INR) 1.0% (18,178)
- Charley Miller (Una) 0.6% (10,615)
- J. Moromisato (Una) 0.3% (5,345)
U.S. House District 1 Race
98% reporting ( 471 precincts )
- Diana DeGette (Dem) 67.4% (127,188)
- Mike Fallon (GOP) 28.8% (54,446)
- Gary Swing (Grn) 1.3% (2,544)
- Clint Jones (Lib) 1.3% (2,496)
- Chris Styskal (AmC) 0.9% (1,885)
For a third party member to speak positively about Instant Runoff Voting is like a bacterium promoting penicillin. A non-suicidal move would be to instead support Approval Voting, which conveniently happens to be simpler and superior according to essentially every quantifiable metric.
http://www.electology.org/approval-voting-vs-irv
Clay Shentrup
San Francisco, CA
I agree with Clay regarding IRV, I am opposed to single winner district ranked voting elections using IRV.
I’m not sure what form of approval Hon. Clay Shentrup is advocating, however, I am also opposed to a lessor advanced system approval voting.
The most advanced system is multi-winner districts (two or more, the more the better) using STV (single transferable votes) under the Sainte-Lague parliament seat distribution system.
By ranking names with consecutively ranked numbers, voters may alternate genders and guarantee that when 2/3rds does this, the top ranked female and top ranked male will be elected.
The 8th US Parliament is supporting an effort to recruit MP Gay Swing [Green] for US Senate in 2012, and I have recommended his name to our central prime minister and Queen to be, Hon. PM Roseanne Barr [Green Tea].
Please join us as we prepare for 2012 and launch our project in 2011 and 2012.
http://www.usparliament.org/signup.php
Prime Minister Roseanne Barr’s Green Tea site:
http://www.roseanneworld.com/blog/2011/02/parliamentary-elections.php
Funny video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kMoRBfJOXA
Essay re PLAS:
http://www.independentpoliticalreport.com/2010/12/us-parliament-open-thread/comment-page-8/#comment-329420
I would support either instant run-off voting or a parliamentary system for choosing executives. However, I agree with James’ statement opposing “single winner district ranked voting elections using IRV.” It is extremely counterproductive for Greens to promote instant runoff voting for legislative offices such as Congress, state legislatures, and city councils. Instant runoff voting neutralizes the ability of minor party candidates to affect the outcome of elections without providing for fair representation of a politically diverse population.
Proportional representation for legislative election is essential for creating a legitimate political system. I prefer the Hallett List System, which would use the single transferable vote (STV) within an open party list system. This would maximize the effectiveness of each person’s vote for winning representation.
I have absolutely no interest at all in approval voting.
James, thank you for your suggestion that I run for US Senate in 2012. However, I live in Colorado and there is no election for US Senate scheduled here in 2012. I have no plans to run as a candidate for public office again.
However, if you would like to arrange for your Prime Minister Roseanne Barr to meet me at the Dushanbe Tea House in Boulder for tea and scones, I would be happy to talk with her face to face about possible appointments.
I should forewarn you that I am opposed to the concept of monarchy, and I heartily disapprove of the idea of making Roseanne Barr — or anybody else — the Queen of the United States.
I would support the idea of replacing the United States Congress with a United States Parliament elected by some form of STV. Moreover, I would prefer the parliamentary selection of a president or prime minister with strictly limited authority over the direct election of an imperial president.
Cheers,
Gary Swing
2010 Green Party Candidate for US Representative (CD1)
Denver, CO
Here are the full, final results from 2010 election:
UNITED STATES SENATOR
Ken Buck (REP) 824,789 46.4%
Michael F. Bennet (DEM) 854,685 48.08%
Bob Kinsey (GRN) 38,884 2.19%
Maclyn “Mac” Stringer (LIB) 22,646 1.27%
Charley Miller (UNA) 11,351 0.64%
J. Moromisato (UNA) 5,780 0.33%
Jason Napolitano (INR) 19,450 1.09%
Bruce E. Lohmiller (GRN) (Write-In) 11 0%
Michele M. Newman (UNA) (Write-In) 20 0%
Robert Rank (REP) (Write-In) 52 0%
REPRESENTATIVE TO THE 112th UNITED STATES CONGRESS – DISTRICT 1
Mike Fallon (REP) 59,747 28.76%
Diana DeGette (DEM) 140,073 67.42%
Gary Swing (GRN) 2,923 1.41%
Chris Styskal (ACN) 2,141 1.03%
Clint Jones (LIB) 2,867 1.38%