COLUMN: Voting for a third party is a pointless, wasted vote
If I hear one more person say a vote for Jill Stein or Gary Johnson isn't a waste of a vote, I'm going to scream.
I chose to major in political science because the field of politics is confusing and can be hard to understand for someone voting for their first time.
I have the unique opportunity to look at this election in November from many different lenses. Issues like: how people of color are thinking about this election. How women are thinking about this election. The list goes on.
I'm not looking at it from a third party's perspective.
Last edition, Central Michigan Life ran a column pleading with students to not count out Johnson from the presidential race. The columnist stated Johnson was polling at 10 percent of the popular vote. Here's the thing: that number doesn't mean a thing in big game, electoral politics.
Johnson or Stein winning is about as likely as the U.S. and Russia coming to an agreement on every issue of foreign policy ever, becoming best friends and double-handedly ending all world terror.
In other words, not likely.
You can argue the last time a third party candidate made a real push for the Oval Office was in 1992 with Ross Perot. I can guarantee most people on this campus were not even a thought in their parents' minds when he was running on the Reform ticket.
Prior to that, President Theodore Roosevelt ran on a third party ticket — in 1912.
Your vote is far too important to throw away on a third party.
In any other election, do your thing. Vote Green Party. Vote Constitution Party. Hell, vote for the people who support the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
But this November, in this election, you need to bite the bullet. Vote for the lesser of two evils.
When you vote third party, you are taking away votes from a candidate that actually stands a chance of winning. You might not agree with how your "second choice candidate" conducts themselves. You might not agree with every single talking point they have, but that's politics.
There will never be a perfect candidate for you. There will never be a politician who says all the things you deem "right." The very nature of politics is that it is a system of governing designed by people, who are flawed and intrinsically imperfect.
Don't be delusional and fall into the line of thinking that if you believe hard enough, your candidate can win. Backing what you believe is the lesser of two evils is the real and honest truth of the presidential election.
This isn't elementary school anymore. We all don't get medals and trophies for participating.
The laziest, most politically irrelevant thing you can do this election season is vote third party.
Make the right choice.
