Bill has allowed local governments to hold Colorado approval voting in elections for first time in a major success. According to Ballot Access News writer Richard Winger’s latest post, “Colorado Bill for Approval Voting Re-Introduced“, the new bill is exactly as revolutionary as it sounds. From the article:

Colorado State Senator David Balmer (R-Centennial) and Representative Jonathan Singer (D-Longmont) have again introduced their bill to let county and city governments use Approval Voting. It is HB 1062. They introduced a similar bill a year ago, SB 65, but it didn’t pass. Approval voting lets voters cast as many votes as they wish for any particular office. In other words, if there are five candidates for one particular office, with one to be elected, a voter can cast, for example, a vote for three of the candidates. Thanks to Jeff Orrok for the news.

This follows the earlier announcement by Colorado University’s student government about adopting approval voting according to the article, “Your student government: CUSG spring elections and ‘approval voting’“, by Lora Roberts, CUSG director of communication. From the article:

Each year, the University of Colorado Student Government holds two elections, one in the fall and one in the spring. Previous elections have followed a system very similar to the voting system on the national level, in which voters could only vote for the same amount of people as spots open. However, CUSG has chosen to go another route this election season and implement an entirely new voting system called “approval voting.”

The similar bill that was introduced for Colorado approval voting and failed last year can be found at this link of the pdf. This is from the summary:

“Approval voting” is a type of voting that allows an elector to cast a vote for as many of the candidates per office as the elector chooses. The winner of each office is the candidate who receives the most votes or, for elections in which multiple candidates fill open seats, the winners are those candidates, in a number equal to the number of seats being filled, attaining the greatest number of votes.

The bill authorizes cities, towns, counties, cities and counties, school districts, and special districts (collectively, “local governments”) to conduct nonpartisan elections using approval voting methods on and after November 1, 2013. The secretary of state is directed to adopt rules and provide advice to local governments regarding approval voting. 

Also look at this amazing set of facts from Third Party and Independent Daily:

Colorado Libertarians are among the most vocal proponents of approval and score voting in the United States.  At the Blue Carp blog, David K. Williams, Jr., the State Chairman for the Libertarian Party of Colorado, often advocates the implementation of approval voting as superior to both instant run-off and plurality.  The Libertarian Party candidate for governor of Colorado in 2010, Jaimes Brown, is an outspoken proponent of the method, which he discussed in an interview with TPID last August.  Now, via Ari Armstrong comes a short Youtube interview with Frank Atwood, in which the former Libertarian candidate for State Representative in Colorado makes a pitch for approval voting.  Armstrong writes: “While I was skeptical of approval voting at first, Atwood convinced me that it’s a good idea — even better than the “instant runoff voting” I’ve previously praised.”