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I think voting for a third-party candidate is a good way to get the person who is least like your third-party candidate to win. The "split the vote" idea. See Bush/Gore/Nader.
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For a presidential election??! I wasn't aware that even people considered it.
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@mrsjd: ha, I was just thinking about Ross Perot.
I've never lived in a state whose party loyalty will ever budge, so I'm not averse to the idea of throwing the libertarians a vote. If I lived in a swing state or anything close to it, I would *never* consider it. I know it's a bad attitude but I just can't imagine what it must be like to have your presidential vote count for anything.
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@LCTBQE: I miss living in Va., elections were more exciting
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@MrsSCB: I'll bet! I know several people from Florida who've lived here a million years and still vote absentee ballot. I'd do it too, except I'm from Texas, which, you know the deal
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@periwinklebee: I didn't know that, thanks for sharing. I'll have to look into that a little more..
I'm largely undecided. No freaking way am I voting for Trump. So it's between Clinton (who I would begrudgingly vote for) or third party.
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@LCTBQE: yes, I voted absentee in Virginia the whole five years I lived in NYC -- part of that was out of sheer laziness, though, haha. I'm a Texas voter now, though. I like being able to vote in the local elections here, though national are kind of a done deal!
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@periwinklebee: thanks for posting that!
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I am terrified by the prospect of a Trump presidency. No way would I ever throw away my vote in this election on a third party candidate. I live in NJ though, so not sure it really matters all that much (not a swing state).
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@Mrs. Pen: the wikipedia page on the electoral college describes it more clearly than I did: "The Twelfth Amendment provides for what happens if the Electoral College fails to elect a president or vice president. If no candidate receives a majority for president [currently 270 electoral college votes], then the House of Representatives will select the president, with each state delegation (instead of each representative) having only one vote. If no candidate receives a majority for vice president, then the Senate will select the vice president, with each senator having one vote. " https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_College_(United_States)
Also "Except for the electors in Maine and Nebraska, electors are elected on a "winner-take-all" basis. That is, all electors pledged to the presidential candidate who wins the most votes in a state become electors for that state." This also makes it hard for a third party, and is what makes so many of our votes meaningless if we're in a state that's not close. This part is not in the constitution, and individual states could (and some have tried to) change it. So this is an example of what @yoursilverlining: said - that changing things at a state level could be a first step...of course, there could be downsides to changing this as well, depending on how it's changed. For example, Maine and Nebraska have a winner-take-all system at the congressional district level. If more states did this, there is a scenario where it would just worsen gerrymandering.
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This election is just terrifying to me. I feel 3rd party is throwing it away. Yet the other two options are both scary.
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@MrsSCB: haha, Sheila Jackson Lee FTW. she's a barrel of monkeys.
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