Opinion | Vote, but don’t vote third party

Christine Chang, staff writer

When I received my mail-in ballot and saw Kanye West running as vice president for an American Independent candidate, I laughed out loud. While I found it humorous in the moment, it was troubling to imagine people voting for West for fun. In what might be the most influential election in our history, how might third-party candidates play a role? 

About a third of registered voters identify as independents, according to the Pew Research Center, with  most leaning toward one of the two major parties. The most prominent third parties you’ve probably heard of at one point or another are the Green Party and the Libertarian Party. In the current election, Libertarian Jo Jorgensen has received a whopping 1.1% of the national vote. 

Which brings me to my main point: Registered voters need to stop voting for third parties. For the past century, the American presidential election has been dominated by a two-party system and that’s not going to change anytime soon. The last occasion a third-party presidential candidate won was in 1850 with independent Millard Fillmore. Every year since then, the only thing third parties have done is generate missed opportunities for Democrats to secure an election win. It’s becoming irrefutable that third parties have had a notable impact in swaying the results. 

In the 2000 general election, Republican George W. Bush won Florida by only 537 votes. This result may have largely been influenced by the Green Party’s nominee Ralph Nader. Nader received over 97,000  votes in the sunshine state, which could have easily pushed Gore’s campaign to victory.. Instead, those who voted for a problematic third party – that hasn’t won in the past 170 years – allowed Bush to acquire Florida, thus winning the election by only four electoral votes. 

And now, 20 years later, third parties are playing a parallel role in the battleground states. While the margins are not as extreme as the 2000 elections, states like Florida and Georgia have shown a notable third-party turnout. In Georgia, Donald Trump currently leads by around 22,500, while around 60,000 people have voted for Jorgensen. The socially liberal agenda set by Jorgensen suggests that Biden would have already secured Georgia had those registered voters settled for their practical next-best candidate, understanding the third-party candidate had no actual shot at winning. 

Fundamentally, third-party candidates split the votes. When an election is this close and when there are crucial human rights at stake, there is no room to vote for a third party. 

As a psychology major, a topic that always seems to come up is the polarization of American politics. Reasons why American politics have become more polarized – confirmation bias, echo chambers – are endless, deeming third-party voters increasingly insignificant in politics. 

Voting third party may seem like a small win for the candidate you like best, or even a jab at the “lesser of two evils” mentality. It’s really not. The realities of the Electoral College system written in the Constitution makes it nearly impossible to have three viable parties in a presidential election. 

While rank-based voting was first introduced for this 2020 presidential race in states like Maine – allowing a secondary option to count in case your first candidate of choice isn’t among the top contenders – most states engage in a winner-take-all system. Despite the system’s benefits, if it’s not consistent across all states, I fear more people will support third-party candidates who are bound to fail. 

The polarization of American politics makes a system like this nearly impossible to implement federally. In the case of the 2000 election, the third-party candidate didn’t win any electoral college votes – but they did deter votes from the Democratic candidate, indirectly propelling Republicans to victory. 

My question persists, why choose a candidate who is bound to fail? It’s like going out to eat and not ordering anything because nothing on the menu is perfect for you. Don't go hungry.