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Do you think a third party or write-in vote is a vote wasted?
I've been hearing lots of discussion about this and I haven't decided how I feel. I'm curious what this community thinks!
Keep comments polite and respectful, folks, and bear in mind that I'm asking about the legitimacy and/or usefulness of third party and write-in votes in our current political system. If you want to discuss the merits and drawbacks of the various candidates, that would be better as its own post. :)




Somewhere, Ross Perot is kicking himself - because if he'd had Clinton and Trump as competitors, he'd have won the election. (The current third party candidates haven't got a chance.)
Circumstantial. I mean if you voted tworads someone like Gary Johnson a third party nominee, then it would probably count for something. But writing in Mr. Joe Smoe from next door probably won't do much.
I am not in the USA so this makes no sense to me.
I feel like this election sort of changes the rules...normally, I'd say a third-party vote is wasted, but with SO MANY people against both of the nominees, it seems like a third party nominee might actually have a chance.
I hope so! I know a surprising number of people who normally vote straight Democrat or Republican who are planning to go third party or write in this year.
On the other hand, I'm pretty sure a lot of people who otherwise don't like Hilary would vote for her just because they REALLY don't want Trump to win. At least, that's what I would do if I lived in a swing state.
It's a symbolic vote against either the two party system, or against this season's main party nominees, but effectively it can become a vote for the greater of two evils.
whenever you fill out something on a ballet, you're sending some sort of message. I think it's fair to decide to vote third party and I also think it's fine to make a calculated decision to support a "lesser of two evils" candidate.
I'd really like to think that voting for a third-party candidate wouldn't be throwing my vote away, but when you look back on elections like 2000 it seems more and more like any vote for a third party just throws your vote towards the major candidate you don't want to elect. So as much as I don't want to vote for Clinton, I'd rather her than Trump.
This is kind of where I'm at right now. Except this whole election season has been weird enough that I'm almost ready to buy into the conspiracy theory that Clinton paid Trump to run just to make her path to the White House easier and then it got out of control... and I don't want to endorse that. Is that too crazy? (Like, I know thinking that way is a little crazy. But is it too crazy?)
Trump is a billionaire, do you think the Clintons would even be able to buy him off?
He's doing it because he likes the attention, not because of money. If he wanted money, he'd open up some more hotels or host another season of The Apprentice.
I guess I was thinking "paid" in terms of not just money, but influence. Typical "You help me get elected, I'll make sure this legislation passes that will make your life easier." But I think you're right about him doing it for the attention. I've never seen someone so desperate for cameras on them.
I'm sure Trump could buy political influence much more cheaply. Think about how much it costs to run a presidential campaign
Like I said, I realize this is a crazy conspiracy theory.
I have never seen any evidence that all votes aren't thrown in the trash and the candidates just flip a coin to decide. Beside, the whole process is meaningless. This country was bought and sold a long time ago. The shit they shuffle around every 4 years doesn't mean a thing.
Vote counting is done fairly openly in many places, at-least where I live. You can even volunteer to be one of the counters! (and there are multiple checks, observers from all the parties etc to make sure the results aren't being fiddled.)
I am not even considering it from a distric standpoint. I'm voting for the person who most closely aligns with my views. It is the person that I would feel most comfortable giving the job. Bernie was such a person. Because I can not pick him, I am going with Jill. I like libertarian but I don't think that's what we need right now either.
it depends. If you are voting in a district that will be a landslide (most elections in Texas for example) then a 3rd party vote can show support a smaller party that you agree with their ideals without having to worry about spoiling an election like in 2000. However in an election such as Texas governor then you would be showing support for a smaller party (Greens or libertarian) without needing to worry about making things worse than they could have been.
That's a good point! I live in an area that I suspect will vote Clinton by a landslide, which means my vote might matter in a different way than it would in a swing area.