“Why should I even vote? It wouldn’t count anyway.”
“Why vote for a third party? That’s a wasted vote — you may as well not even bother.”
Though I am not the biggest political buff, with the election coming up so soon, I have heard these statements way too many times from students around campus. However, it is the first presidential election for many of us; we should feel empowered and ready to vote.
Of course, one vote for any candidate from one person will likely not change the outcome of the election, especially with the winner-takes-all system of the electoral college. Yet, if everyone thought this way, there would be no voter representation from the people of the United States.
Even if the person you voted for does not win, there is certainly still a personal satisfaction of knowing that you made an effort to try to make the outcome different. Furthermore, if you did not vote at all and happen to disagree with the new president’s policies, it would not be as sensible to complain about their values since nothing has been done on your end to voice your opinion during election time.
Conversely, I understand how it can be tempting to not vote. You do not like either one of the major candidates and you are constantly told that voting for a third party is like throwing your vote away. Many believe that one should vote for the lesser of the two evils (i.e., vote for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton just to give her more of an edge against Republican nominee Donald Trump, or vice versa). Others say that even if one does not believe that Clinton is a good candidate, they should vote for her anyway in order to ensure that Trump does not win the presidency.
These people reasonably feel that going the third-party route is risky since it may cause an event called the “spoiler effect.” A popular example of this occurrence is the George W. Bush vs. Al Gore election in 2000. Although Al Gore had more popular votes than George Bush, Bush won the electoral college, and because he had more votes than Gore in Florida by a small margin, Bush became president. Many argued that Gore would have beat Bush in Florida if the liberal third-party candidate Ralph Nader had not run since he took away votes that could have went to Gore. In this case, Nader was the “spoiler,” and people do not want to run the risk of something like that happening again.
Despite the risk of this spoiler effect, I feel that thinking purely strategically when casting your ballot takes away from the true spirit of voting. If you do decide to vote, which I highly recommend, vote for who you truly feel would make the best president. Make the decision on your own; do not let others tell you to vote for someone who you do not even want to be president just to eliminate another candidate.¶
We are college students, so even though we are now able to voice our opinions this general election, we should not feel that it is our responsibility to make a false vote to prevent someone else from winning. Do you want to remember your first election as one where you did not give your true opinion and were not honest with yourself?
Do your own research, and go out and vote. Forget about external factors and people trying to sway your vote a certain way. For instance, if you believe that Jill Stein of the Green Party would be the best fit for president and your values fit with hers the best, express your true feelings at the polls. Do not think that you are doing an injustice to your country by making a vote that was not strategic enough — we should not be made to feel that way. Instead, you will know that at your first election, you voted for whom you truly believed in.
Brad Calendrillo is a sophomore majoring in English.