Disclaimer: I don’t want to tell someone how to vote in any race but I think it’s important for anyone casting an untraditional vote (ie. not selecting between the candidates with any realistic chance of winning) to be very cognizant of the electoral effect of their vote so that they don’t unknowingly produce an effect opposite to what they intended.
I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about the effect of third party voting and when it might be appropriate to “throw away your vote” as some people call it or “send a message” as others would frame it. That might seem unusual for someone who lives in a state where the majority of races are already decided before the general election ballots have even been formulated but after decades of thinking about and participating in politics I have come to some solid conclusions on the topic.
The effect of voting for a 3rd Party candidate is that you are allowing those viewers who vote for the major candidates to decide the election without your input. I think the majority of people who contemplate casting 3rd party votes hope to send a message about what candidates, issues, or positions they want to see—which is fine. In the case of races that are anything but competitive this might be exactly the practical effect of casting those votes. On the other hand, for competitive races this message is likely to be overlooked as all the focus is on the final outcome.
When deciding to cast a 3rd party vote in a competitive race you are effectively voting for whichever major candidate you like the least. This only makes sense in one of two situations:
- The major candidates are all essentially decent and there is no more significant downside to any given candidate.
- The major candidates are so universally terrible that you can’t vote for any of them in good conscience.
If you find yourself in situation 1, congratulations your case is enviable. If you find yourself in situation 2, condolences and I’ve been there a time or two (although it wasn’t competitive in my cases).
So yes, it’s okay to cast a 3rd party vote but please do so responsibly and not when you are knowingly risking an outcome that is obviously worse than a viable if imperfect alternative.
