Both Green Party nominee Jill Stein and Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson Gary Earl JohnsonWhat the numbers say about Trump's chances at reelection Presidential race tightens in Minnesota as Trump plows resources into state The Hill's Campaign Report: Biden condemns violence, blames Trump for fomenting it l Bitter Mass. primaries reach the end l Super PAC spending set to explode MORE should be allowed to share the debate stage with Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonJoe Biden looks to expand election battleground into Trump country Biden leads Trump by 12 points among Catholic voters: poll The Hill's Campaign Report: Biden goes on offense MORE and Donald Trump Donald John TrumpBubba Wallace to be driver of Michael Jordan, Denny Hamlin NASCAR team Graham: GOP will confirm Trump's Supreme Court nominee before the election Southwest Airlines, unions call for six-month extension of government aid MORE this month and beyond.

Both presidential hopefuls are on enough ballots in enough states to actually win the presidency and, according to some polls, are hitting the 15 percent mark necessary to be included in the debates. In the national polls required to secure this 15 percent, some only give Clinton and Trump as options, making them disproportionately favored toward the two-party system. With both on the ballot in more than 40 states, and approval ratings exponentially increasing, Stein and Johnson have enough momentum to make them worthy of presenting themselves to the American people.

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There are almost 320 million people in this country and just two political notions to represent their beliefs, and both have major problems in representing these beliefs. People feel they have had this primary stolen from them, from the fiasco with the Democratic National Committee to the grim Republican options offered. It’s no wonder that half of Americans don’t even vote and over 40 percent are registered independent. There are far too many independents out there to not have any representation in the general election. Throw in more worthy candidates, and you will see an increase in voter turnout.

This struggle has been going on for a while, but another party has never really had a true shot to win. Eugene McCarthy was kind of a disaster, and Ross Perot — the last independent allowed to debate — was better liked when played by Dana Carvey on “Saturday Night Live.” Stein did run in the 2012 race, but she was nowhere near as widely known; with the popularity of Bernie Sanders Bernie SandersJacobin editor: Primarying Schumer would force him to fight Trump's SCOTUS nominee Trump campaign plays up Biden's skills ahead of Cleveland debate: 'He's actually quite good' Young voters backing Biden by 2:1 margin: poll MORE this year, what better time to have a third and fourth party re-engage the frustrated, disenfranchised voters Bernie left behind? Make America Vote Again!

Voting independent need not just be about making a statement; if people get to watch a true debate this year, these otherwise unaffected voters could help sway the election. Side note: Shouldn’t Trump do what Reagan did in 1980 and support an independent debate? The Donald is always saying how rigged the two-party system is and that politics as usual isn’t working — surely he should be all about this.

This has been a crazy race, and people are fed up. Things can’t change in the way we need them to within a corrupt two-party system. When you get beyond that machine that keeps holding us back, weighing us down with a comforting “that’s just the way things are,” the possibilities exponentially grow.

When we vote, and who we vote for, shows the powers that be that we’re paying attention. Our voices have been silenced for too long.

From Allison Saft, Philadelphia

Latinos conspicuously absent from otherwise diverse moderator group