There are many states where the outcome is so assured, that you can vote third party without much risk that you'll be aiding your least favored candidate. @[29102660:2048:Katy Levinson]
"The problem is, we all want the upsides of a 3rd party voice in politics. The two existing parties agree on many issues like the drug war, bombing countries we are not at war with, police militarization, not repairing infrastructure, privacy/surveillance, and the prison industrial complex. A 3rd party, even if it was not a serious contender, would put pressure on them to take opposing sides on these issues to compete for the base of the 3rd party. It also encourages the parties to redefine pairings of ideas to attract a new base. We have seen in this election how powerful it is to bring up an unexamined issue such as college debt or immigration. Adding a 3rd party means the counter-proposals need to compete with each other, rather than leaving us with a pair of take-it-or-leave-it bullet lists that are more-or-less inflexible after the primaries.
Interestingly, we don’t need a 3rd party to win the presidency to get these upsides. If a 3rd party wins between 5% and 25% of the presidential election vote, they can receive partial public funding in the next election. If a 3rd party can get 15% of the vote from five polling stations, they can take part in the presidential debates. (A non-government entity runs out presidential debates with complicated rules). If they do it this year, they even get to take part in the 2016 presidential debates.
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"The problem is, we all want the upsides of a 3rd party voice in politics. The two existing parties agree on many issues like the drug war, bombing countries we are not at war with, police militarization, not repairing infrastructure, privacy/surveillance, and the prison industrial complex. A 3rd party, even if it was not a serious contender, would put pressure on them to take opposing sides on these issues to compete for the base of the 3rd party. It also encourages the parties to redefine pairings of ideas to attract a new base. We have seen in this election how powerful it is to bring up an unexamined issue such as college debt or immigration. Adding a 3rd party means the counter-proposals need to compete with each other, rather than leaving us with a pair of take-it-or-leave-it bullet lists that are more-or-less inflexible after the primaries.
Interestingly, we don’t need a 3rd party to win the presidency to get these upsides. If a 3rd party wins between 5% and 25% of the presidential election vote, they can receive partial public funding in the next election. If a 3rd party can get 15% of the vote from five polling stations, they can take part in the presidential debates. (A non-government entity runs out presidential debates with complicated rules). If they do it this year, they even get to take part in the 2016 presidential debates.
"