Recently I was struck by a conversation with my mother. It was based on the fact that since I told her I was voting for a third party candidate I was wasting my vote. Since I decided that I didn't agree with the platforms of both Donald Trump or Hilary Clinton I was going to exercise my right and vote for a third party candidate who appealed more to my personal views. My political views aren't what I'm writing about this week, nor do they matter particularly to anyone other than me. What really is bugging me is the concept of "throwing away your vote" or "wasting your vote." Last time I checked the only way I really can waste my vote is if I decide not to participate in the electoral process at all.
This brings me back to a seminar I had in college about how the media, and its need for a sensational headline, which has helped to create the bipartisan nature in the political arena. This, coupled with the rise of two major political parties that have enough campaign funds to effectively stamp out any new parties, creates a false sense of only having two choices. People are constantly exposed to the Democratic and Republican nominees due to major news channels constantly covering their campaigns but never feel the need to look at the other parties because those people don't matter. Most Americans either don't have enough time, or don't care enough, to sit down and look at a politician’s platform in depth. Not to mention people like Vermin Supreme sometimes paint third party candidates as "lunatics." This allows them to decide that if you aren't voting for the major name they know then you are voting for nothing and wasting your vote.
Wasting a vote only really occurs when you don't vote at all. Any other time you are becoming part of the political process. Whether your candidate wins or not shouldn't be the priority, what should matter is the fact that you voted. Your voice was heard in some minute way due to the fact that you voted the way you did. Ralph Nader in the 2004 presidential race is a good example of this. Tens of thousands of people voted for Ralph Nader because they weren't satisfied with what the Republican and Democratic parties were putting forward. They chose the third alternative, which to some would be wasting their vote. But since thousands of people didn't think about "wasting their vote" a larger point was made.
I'm not saying that every person who decides not to vote Republican or Democrat in this next election is sitting there and finding a third party candidate they agree with. Some will put batman as a joke on the ballot, others a sports hero, but what all of these people are doing in their own way is showing that they are fed up with who is being put forward by the two major parties. So go ahead and tell me that I'm wasting my vote in voting for a third party candidate, I'll just smile and say at least I came out here and voted at all.
