Gary Swing for State Senate 

My Campaign Message

I was the Unity Party candidate for Colorado Secretary of State in 2022. Now I am the Unity Party nominee for state senate district 18 representing Boulder, Niwot, Gunbarrel, Louisville, and Superior. The general election for this district will be a two way contest between me and the winner of the Democratic primary.

This seat is currently held by Stephen Fenberg, who is now the President of the Colorado Senate. He was the State Senate Majority Leader from 2019 to 2022.  He is now term limited.

Stephen Fenberg says that "everyone should have a seat at the table." 

Yet, in 2021, he carried Senate Bill 250. That bill eliminated the filing fee option for independent presidential candidates, making it extremely difficult for independent presidential candidates to qualify for Colorado's ballot. 

In 2019, he was the Senate sponsor for House Bill 1278, known as the "Colorado Votes Act." It vastly increased petition signature requirements to keep independent candidates off the ballot for Congressional, state and county offices. 

The U.S. generally has some of the world's most restrictive ballot access laws, but from 1997 until 2019, Colorado had some of the best independent and minor party ballot access laws of any state. This was the result of lobbying efforts by a coalition of eight alternative political parties supporting two ballot access reform bills carried by Boulder State Representative Ron Tupa. Ron Tupa is now a Unity Party candidate for Colorado's 7th Congressional District.

Once again, independent candidate ballot access requirements need to be vastly reduced in Colorado. 

I suggest offering independent candidates the option of either paying a small filing fee or submitting a small number of petition signatures to get on the ballot. Political parties should also retain the right to nominate candidates by party assembly. 

The two cartel parties have a vested interest in preserving a winner take all voting sysyem that excludes independent and alternative party candidates from fair representation.

We still live under an archaic political system that was designed in secret 235 years ago by a handful of rich white men, predominantly slaveholders, who sought to preserve their own wealth and power, while excluding about 94% of the population from representation in government.

Ninety-five other countries now use proportional representation voting methods to secure fair, inclusive representation in their national legislatures in proportion to the share of the vote cast for each political party. Most of these countries use a party list system. 

Colorado could serve as a model for introducing representative democracy to the United States if we amend our state constitution to elect a unicameral state legislature by hybrid proportional representation, as proposed by Best Democracy. This proposal would eliminate the redundant 35 member state senate while increasing the number of members in the state house of representatives from 65 to 185. Seven members would be elected from each of 22 districts, using the single transferable vote method. Voters would rank individual candidates in their order of preference. In order to win a district seat, a candidate would need a minimum of one eighth of the vote (or 12.5%) to be elected.

About 80% of state representatives would be elected from multi-member districts. The remaining 20% would be elected from open party lists. Overall representation of each party in the General Assembly would be in proportion to its share of the party list vote. To make the system more inclusive, the allocation of party list seats would compensate for disproportionate representation that results from district elections. 

Best Democracy proposes a 3% threshold to win seats from the party list vote. This voting system should increase the number of parties represented in the state legislature from two to eight parties or more. About 98% of Colorado voters would be able to elect representatives of their choice.

Under the current election system, the outcome of the vast majority of elections is predetermined by the demographics of single member districts. Most jurisdictions effectively have a one party system in which voting in general elections really doesn't matter. 

Hybrid Proportional Representation using multi-member districts would make every vote count, securing fair, inclusive representation.

In 1776, John Adams wrote that a "representative assembly... should be in miniature an exact portrait of the people at large. It should think, feel, reason and act like them."

Single member district, winner-take-all elections exclude political minorities from representation. 

No minor party candidate has been elected to the US Congress since 1970. 

The Libertarian Party is the third largest party in the United States. The Green Party is the fourth largest. Green Party candidates have been running in the U.S. since 1985. Libertarian candidates have been running since 1972.

Yet, no Green Party or Libertarian Party candidates hold any statewide offices. 

There are 7,383 seats in state legislatures in the United States. None are held by Green Party members. Only one is held by a Libertarian. He is a Vermont state representative who was elected as a Republican. He switched to the Libertarian Party after he was elected.

If the United States used a party list system of proportional representation to elect legislators, a party supported by 5% of voters should now have at least 22 U.S. representatives and at least 369 seats in state legislatures. 

Proportional representation is essential for securing fair, inclusive representation for women, racial minorities and smaller parties.

Reasonable ballot access laws would make it easier for candidates of any affiliation to participate in open and democratic elections.

In 2019, Democratic state legislators enacted a broad package of election system changes, the Colorado Votes Act.

Section 19 of that bill vastly increased the number of petition signatures required for unaffiliated candidates and candidates of new parties to get on the ballot. No unaffiliated candidate has qualified for Colorado's ballot for statewide office since House Bill 1278 was enacted. All alternative party candidates on the ballot for statewide office since then have been candidates nominated by state party assembly by minor parties that were recognized in Colorado prior to the passage of the Democrats' independent candidate suppression legislation.

The ballot access restrictions sponsored by Boulder State Senator Stephen Fenberg were passed in a sneaky, corrupt fashion by attaching them to a package of unrelated election law changes that were broadly supported by progressive organizations.

As a state representative, I would introduce legislation to make unaffiliated candidate ballot access laws much less restrictive.

I suggest offering candidates the option of a nominal filing fee as an alternative to paper petitions.

I propose the following ballot access options for unaffiliated candidates and candidates from new parties in Colorado:

Restore the $1,000 filing fee for independent presidential tickets with an alternative option of submitting 1,000 petition signstures.

Allow candidates of any affiliation to get on the ballot by paying a $500 filing fee or submitting 500 petition signatures for other statewide offices. 

I propose a $200 filing fee or 200 petition signatures for Congressional District offices.

A $50 filing fee or 50 petition signatures for Colorado General Assembly candidates. District Attorney candidates, and candidates for county offices in counties with a population of more than 10,000 people at the last census.

And a $25 filing fee or 25 petition signatures for candidates for county offices in less populated counties.

https://www.bestdemocracy.org/proportional-representation/hybrid.html