No, for several reasons. The congressional election in my district is essentially a foregone conclusion and since our voting system is winner-take-all there is

No, for several reasons. The congressional election in my district is essentially a foregone conclusion and since our voting system is winner-take-all there is really no point in voting for the opposition. I also happen to think both candidates are unqualified to represent themselves, much less a state. My state has judicial elections as well, which might be worth voting in if any of the candidates were less despicable. Some of their ads are Onion-worthy. All judicial candidates I've seen have breathlessly tried to one-up their opponents by being "tougher on crime" while glossing over thier utter disregard for the either the federal or state Constitutions. It's made me wonder if defense attorneys can even pursue a judicial career in a place like this. Some have made the argument that not voting is also equivalent to a vote of no confidence in the available candidates and/or system as a whole. I kind of agree with this, but doubt that such a protest is really effective. One of the few things our highly divided political factions do agree on is that everyone should vote. Preferably for their party, but at least vote for someone. Depending on your perspective, this is either evidence that voting is such an obviously good thing which everyone should do regardless of their circumstances, or (if you are less trusting of their stated motivations) an attempt to ensure their own legitimacy. In a way, each vote that isn't cast is a vote against all the candidates, so the idea that someone would not vote is equally offensive to our political factions regardless of what side of the aisle they sit on. Since I happen to think that many of these individuals do not deserve their present positions, and the candidates their respective caucases and donors have promoted to replace them are no better, not voting is the most natural expression of my opinion "you are all unqualified." Basically, the marginal value of spending my time not voting (e.g. working, reading, even writing about why I don't see a point in voting in this election) far exceeds the expected return on that same time should I spend it voting. I suspect it's the same for many people. Most arguments to the contrary appeal to various theoretical notions or idealistic purposes/side effects of voting, which to me just sounds like "you should vote because it will make you feel good." If it makes you feel good, then go ahead. Some people like to feel like they're participating. I prefer to know that I'm impacting the decisions that get made in my state in a positive way, and I don't consider selecting the lesser of two evils to meet that requirement.