Next Monday, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump will face off in the first debate of the 2016 election season. At 6:00 PM Pacific Time, it will be shown on every major TV network and streamed online through Youtube.

They both have the lowest favorability ratings in modern history of any American presidential candidates. Most people would rather vote for someone else. Still, they will be the only two participants, because none of the other candidates reached the arbitrary threshold of capturing 15 percent of voters in national polls.

Supporters of Governor Gary Johnson,the Libertarian Party candidate, were hoping that this viral video from his campaign —the most viewed political ad in 2016 — could push his poll numbers up over the bar:

Balanced Rebellion is a website that attempts to address a serious problem in the current voting system: people believe that voting for one major party's candidate is voting against the other one's. However, this website can alleviate that fear: if you would vote for Trump to stop Hillary, then it matches you up with someone from your state who would vote for Hillary to stop Trump. Both of you pledge to vote for Gary Johnson so that neither Trump nor Hillary gets an advantage.

Unfortunately, even with the Balanced Rebellion on his side, Gary Johnson could not reach 15 percent in five polls, the requirement to participate in the debate. He was not surprised by this result, though, since the requirement was set up by the two parties in the first place:

I would say I am surprised that the CPD [Comission on Presidential Debates] has chosen to exclude me from the first debate, but I’m not. After all, the Commission is a private organization created 30 years ago by the Republican and Democratic parties for the clear purpose of taking control of the only nationally-televised presidential debates voters will see.

Johnson has plenty of experience butting heads with the CPD. He sued them twice, citing violation of anti-trust laws, but was dismissed both times. He is not the only one to consider the debates a shady business —

the Obama and Romney campaigns were criticized by 18 organizations for creating a secret contract with the CPD during the 2012 elections.

When Americans tune into the debate, they will see two options that they do not want. This opportunity to show them that politics is not a black-and-white choice has been lost.

As I described in my very first Odyssey article almost a year ago, this happens because the Plurality voting system traps us between two options with no alternative:

[Our system] encourages people to vote for one of two candidates and discourages the formation of third parties, so that anyone who does not always agree with one of the two major candidates or parties is out of luck ... For example, people who are socially liberal but fiscally conservative, such as libertarians, have no voice in the current system because neither party represents their views. They must compromise their views if they want to have any effect on the country at large.

Both of the relatively well-known third-party candidates in this election, Gary Johnson and the Green Party's Dr. Jill Stein, actually had a plan to fix this problem. In Johnson's AMA ("Ask Me Anything") thread on Reddit, one user asked, "Would you also consider replacing our system of plurality voting with the Borda Count Method or even rank-choice voting as Dr. Jill Stein does?" He replied, "Count on my support for majority vote. Count on my support for ranked voting. I believe it would have to be done via an amendment to the Constitution."

Hope is not entirely lost. Gary Johnson is on the ballot in all 50 states, and he could potentially make it into the second debate. Still, it is unfortunate that most of the country is willing to choose a candidate that they do not want and miss the opportunity to fix this problem once and for all.