UTV at the 2019 Unrig Summit

Unsplit the Vote was a sponsor at the 2019 Unrig Summit in Nashville, 29-31 March. We had a table, our first full conference presence, and shared it with the like-minded Equal Vote.

Unsplit the Vote was a sponsor at the 2019 Unrig Summit in Nashville, 29-31 March. We had a table, our first full conference presence, and shared it with the like-minded Equal Vote. Blake and Alan drove out from Denver, Paul came from Maryland, and a half dozen Equal Vote activists flew out from Oregon. RepresentUs, the conference organizer, expected more than 1500 attendees. The Summit’s target problem was government corruption, and every exhibitor was promoting a different cause and solution. Unsplit the Vote made its case clear: the root cause is vote splitting in our elections, and the solution is an evaluative voting method, one of the Score Voting family. That message seemed to resonate, and people liked our honeybee motif (after some initial puzzled queries). 

One area for UTV to improve is literature and presentation aids with less text and larger pictures. Our Twitter raffle failed to generate buzz—surprisingly few Unrig visitors used Twitter. 

Summit participants were largely focused on the presentations and workshops, less on the exhibitors. The best networking occurred when our people went roaming, not remaining behind the table, though someone always had to be there. With UTV and EV sharing a table we got quality time with each other, but also hung out with activists from The Center for Election Science and even FairVote, which promotes the ranked voting method Instant Runoff Voting. 

In one extraordinary moment, the combined UTV-EV team sang the STAR Voting theme song. This was captured on video but is mercifully omitted here; it is enough to know that it happened. 

At the less-formal, participant-driven Unconference summit within the Summit, Blake gave a 5-minute lightning talk about Approval Voting:

Judging by the number of voting-reform groups at Unrig, there appears to be a growing consensus that our current voting method is the root cause of today’s political troubles. There is less consensus about what voting method is best–each organization seems convinced that its preferred method is the platonic ideal–but everyone agrees that choose-one Plurality Voting is dysfunctional. Fortunately the USA is sufficiently decentralized that there is room for experimentation, and we reformers will have more success if we cooperate.

UTV/AV at New Hampshire Liberty Forum 2019

Unsplit the Vote and Approval Voting sponsored the New Hampshire Liberty Forum 2019 put on annually by the Free State Project. Long-time Approval Voting activists Frank Atwood and Blake Huber flew out from Colorado.

Blake and Frank with Vermin Supreme at the 2019 New Hampshire Liberty Forum
Blake and Frank with perennial candidate Vermin Supreme

Unsplit the Vote and Approval Voting sponsored the New Hampshire Liberty Forum 2019 put on annually by the Free State Project. Long-time Approval Voting activists Frank Atwood & Blake Huber flew out from Colorado. Besides Approval Voting itself, they promoted the books Gaming the Vote and Honeybee Democracy

Some 80% of the attendees already knew about Approval Voting. The high level of awareness no doubt reflected several past efforts. Since 2011, NH has seen four AV bills, including one this year. 

Frank and Blake being interviewed at the 2019 New Hampshire Liberty Forum

Day 3 was the big one. Blake gave a brief presentation of Approval Voting to a lecture hall. Frank hosted the Legislative Cocktail Hour, and hobnobbed with NH legislators. Frank and Blake together had a 20-minute live-stream interview. It runs from about 1h 10m on the video that you can find on the Liberty Forum Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/LibertyForum/videos/597443454106624/

Blake manning the stand the 2019 New Hampshire Liberty Forum