It is clear from the responses that I get that many folks don’t understand why people may choose to vote third party. Here’s a bit of background since most of us had horrible civics educations. As always, I never tell folks for whom to vote, and do not shame folks on my page please.
In addition to not wanting to vote for an administration that is funding a genocide, the main point isn’t for that third party candidate to win this time around, it is to set up the election process for the next time, and to send a message.
If a third party gets 5% of the votes, that changes how they can raise funds in the future and also depending on the state, can help them be on the next ballot itself.
If candidates and voters of the two party system see that a significant number has voted for a third party, it creates fractures and fissures in the system. A system we definitely do not want.
On top of that, because of the horrendous electoral college, there is this liminal space to make a statement.
A lot of people in very solid red or blue states (and recall that most states are very solid and not at all close to swing) are strategizing around that liminal space to make the statement that sure, the solid state candidate will win this time because of the electoral college, but here is a protest to the system in popular count numbers.
Just as you witnessed with speaking out against genocide, the more people that do it, the more others become emboldened to do so too.
There are so many more individual reasons for each person too.
I can see why people are choosing to vote for every candidate and every side and even why some are choosing not to vote. There are no great candidates and the system itself is utterly fucked.
Vote in the way that you believe will set up conditions for our work ahead. And be very clear that whatever your vote or non vote, it is not liberation. What is more important to me is continuing to organize for actual liberation. Let’s go.
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