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> Voting 3rd party exercises your right to say you don't like either of the other 2 candidates You can say whatever you want, but no one is listening. Voter tu

> Voting 3rd party exercises your right to say you don't like either of the other 2 candidates You can say whatever you want, but no one is listening. Voter turnout is so low that the signal of voting 3rd-party is completely lost in the noise of passive non-voting. 3rd-party votes might feel good, but pragmatically (and what is voting except a pragmatic attempt to advance your preferred policy), they are useless. I encourage everyone on this comment chain to read Clay Shirky's "There is no such thing as a protest vote" [0], and really take it seriously, instead of jumping to thought-terminating cliches by angrily denouncing him as a sheep or whatever. He's right. [0]: https://medium.com/@cshirky/theres-no-such-thing-as-a-protest-vote-c2fdacabd704 https://medium.com/@cshirky/theres-no-such-thing-as-a-protes...

siffland 7y ago
Just for a clarification, when I said "Voting 3rd party exercises your right to say you don't like either of the other 2 candidates" I actually voted for a third party, i liked better than the other 2. It was not a protest. I did just read your link and won't denounce him as anything, but I do think telling people who vote for someone they like who is not in the main 2 parties that their vote was a "throw-away" is again not a good thing. We will have to agree to disagree on this. Although it is interesting in some other countries where there are more than 2 parties that do all compete.
godtoldmetodoit 7y ago
In a Presidential election it really depends on the state you vote in. California is going team blue no matter what, Alabama team red. Voting 3rd party in one of those states is not going to change the outcome. Florida, Michigan, Wisconsin etc the calculation totally changes of course.
aianus 7y ago
Pragmatically every vote is useless. The chances that the election outcome will come down to your single vote are infinitesimal. Every individual vote is a protest vote lost in the noise. So anyone reading this should feel perfectly free to vote their conscience.

siffland 7y ago

Just for a clarification, when I said "Voting 3rd party exercises your right to say you don't like either of the other 2 candidates" I actually voted for a third party, i liked better than the other 2. It was not a protest. I did just read your link and won't denounce him as anything, but I do think telling people who vote for someone they like who is not in the main 2 parties that their vote was a "throw-away" is again not a good thing. We will have to agree to disagree on this. Although it is interesting in some other countries where there are more than 2 parties that do all compete.

godtoldmetodoit 7y ago

In a Presidential election it really depends on the state you vote in. California is going team blue no matter what, Alabama team red. Voting 3rd party in one of those states is not going to change the outcome. Florida, Michigan, Wisconsin etc the calculation totally changes of course.

aianus 7y ago

Pragmatically every vote is useless. The chances that the election outcome will come down to your single vote are infinitesimal. Every individual vote is a protest vote lost in the noise. So anyone reading this should feel perfectly free to vote their conscience.