Current Events > Voting third party is functionally the same as not voting at all.

(+) Yeah! (+)

This is a fact in anything besides maybe a local election in small towns.
---

Yup
---

Maze_ posted...

TheGreatGeno326 posted...

_Rinku_ posted...

Clinton, because I actually understand how the system works. Third party votes are a waste for the national election.

This tho

Voting third party is functionally the same as not voting at all

I'm not sure I agree.

Michigan

Trump 47.6 percent, Clinton 47.3 percent

Difference: 13,080 votes

2. New Hampshire

Clinton 47.6 percent, Trump 47.2 percent

Difference: 2,701 votes

Wisconsin

Trump 47.9 percent, Clinton 46.9 percent

Difference: 27,257 votes

Thousands of people went to the polls and voted, who had they voted Clinton in 2016, she would have won the state.

I think that sends a more powerful message than not voting.

"We lost by 0.3% of the vote and 5.1% of the voting public chose neither of us" means more than "We lost by 0.3% of the vote and everyone voted us or Trump"

It demonstrates that people aren't too lazy to vote and you could have won if only you tried harder.

---

Oh well. Nominate a candidate worth voting for.
---

TC sounds like a partisan hack.
---

also, vote numbers can effect party classification and funding. So voting for a third party can influence things even if they don't make a difference in the outcome of the election compared to not voting.
---

This is one of my pet peeves
---

You could say me voting democrat in missouri is like not voting at all. But here i am. Voting third party is still exercising your right to vote. It was never meant to be a strictly two party system. Sitting on your ass and not voting is not voting at all. I have more respect for people who enter a write in.
---

I'm still gonna (if there's not someone else I really want to vote for)
Someday they'll get that funding
---

kyujo posted...

I'm still gonna (if there's not someone else I really want to vote for)
Someday they'll get that funding

They won't tho

The way the system is set up a third party will never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever gain significant power in the US without a violent revolution to completely overhaul and rebuild the system from the ground up
---

Not it's not

3rd party candidates need a certain threshold of votes to make it onto the debate stage and to get election funding. I'd rather contribute to that because, eventually they will get there. The Dems and Republicans haven't always been the top 2 parties, and they won't always be. I'll gladly vote to see them both gone.

If the Dems screw up and nominate Biden, I'll be happily voting 3rd party again.
---

Valjackal posted...

Oh well. Nominate a candidate worth voting for.

---

toadfan64 posted...

Not it's not

3rd party candidates need a certain threshold of votes to make it onto the debate stage and to get election funding. I'd rather contribute to that because, eventually they will get there. The Dems and Republicans haven't always been the top 2 parties, and they won't always be. I'll gladly vote to see them both gone.

If the Dems screw up and nominate Biden, I'll be happily voting 3rd party again.

Dems and Republicans haven't always been the top 2 parties

oh lawdy

Cars weren't always the main form of transportation, either.
---

Guide posted...

toadfan64 posted...

Not it's not

3rd party candidates need a certain threshold of votes to make it onto the debate stage and to get election funding. I'd rather contribute to that because, eventually they will get there. The Dems and Republicans haven't always been the top 2 parties, and they won't always be. I'll gladly vote to see them both gone.

If the Dems screw up and nominate Biden, I'll be happily voting 3rd party again.

Dems and Republicans haven't always been the top 2 parties

oh lawdy

Cars weren't always the main form of transportation, either.

Guess what? Eventually they won't be the main form of transportation in the future either.

You're free to keep sucking the Dems and Reps dicks, I'll be over there voting for who is closest to my beliefs. Especially in an important swing state :)
---

Oh lawdy.
---

No one is owed votes. It is the candidates' job to make people vote for them.
---

It makes extremists angry though so it's a lot better than not voting
---

Geno! Youre back!
---

Damn_Underscore posted...

It makes extremists angry though so it's a lot better than not voting

Isn't this the same reasoning that gets people voting for Trump though? "haha trump is ruining things again, owning the libs yeah"
---

toadfan64 posted...

The Dems and Republicans haven't always been the top 2 parties,

I mean yeah they kind of have.

Washington didn't have a party, John Adams ran as what was called a Federalist back then and he ended up being so unpopular that the Federalists never won anything again, and the reign of Jefferson's Democratic-Republicans party took over. We we're basically 1 party until John Quincy Adams defeated Andrew Jackson with a corrupt backdoor deal. This caused a schism in the party causing it to separate into Democrats, headed up by Andrew Jackson, and Republicans. Andrew Jackson fucking wrecked and Republicans popularity tanked.

There was a brief bullshit with the "Whigs" but the party sucked and were only around for a few elections and one of their presidents was William Henry Harrison who did nothing and then died.

So basically, subtracting Washington, John Adams, and 3.01 Whig presidents, everyone else was a Democrat or Republican (or a Democratic-Republicans which was just the two parties merged)
---

DarthAragorn posted...

Valjackal posted...

Oh well. Nominate a candidate worth voting for.

---