Is Voting For A Third Party A Wasted Vote?

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Is voting for a third party in United States elections a wasted vote? What if a third party is the only way that you can vote without violating your conscience?
 
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Then vote third party. Or don’t vote. You’re not obliged to vote contrary to what we’ve been propagandized with since infancy.

And no a third party vote is not a wasted vote. That’s just a characterization by political partisans.
 
In the state that I live in the state law is written as follows.

If there is a write-in space on the ballot, voters can write in whatever name they wish. Any and all names written in are counted. However, only a certified write-in candidate would qualify to win the election if his or her name received the most votes out of all the choices.
 
I’ve never considered any vote “wasted” if it reflects a thoughtful decision by the person casting the vote.

In terms of influencing elections, it may have an effect by taking support away from another candidate or sending a message to the main two parties.

I’ve voted third party a number of times and always happy to consider doing it again.

The whole “wasted vote” business usually comes from members of the main party who are afraid their candidate will lose votes to the third party. To which I say, if I don’t like your candidate and express that with my vote, then I’m allowed to do that.

The Church also considers voting a moral duty of a good citizen, so voting third party or write-in is preferable to not voting at all if you don’t like either of the main candidates.
 
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Dave27360 said:
Is voting for a third party in United States elections a wasted vote? What if a third party is the only way that you can vote without violating your conscience?
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If you want to really look into third party voting just take a look at Ross Perot and how his presidential run went for him. He is one of the few third party candidates that made headlines and got on the debate platform during a presidential run, in front of the nation. An also, Ralph Nader who had a plethora of other party platforms he ran under, he could never figure out where he was going .
 
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Let’s face it. Neither major part is consistent enough with Catholic Social teaching to justify support. And I do not think there is even a minor party. It comes down to a hopeless write in vote to truly vote my conscience.

If the vote expresses my view, it is not wasted.
 
Because is the way the US system is set up, then yes—a third party vote is a wasted vote.

I’m not telling you what to do. I’m just answering the thread title 🙂
 
I was going to write a long reply, but I’ll sum up in two words: Ralph Nader.
 
The only “wasted” vote is a vote given to the anti-catholic, pro atheist, . . . anti woman, . . . , pro death democratic platform.
 
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For our current situation, yes. One of two parties will be elected. Since one party supports grave evil, the murder of unborn, then it is quite serious to cast a vote that will stand a chance to combat that evil. Knowingly throwing away a vote to combat that kind of evil would constitute a sin of omission.
 
c4csp said:
For our current situation, yes. One of two parties will be elected. Since one party supports grave evil, the murder of unborn, then it is quite serious to cast a vote that will stand a chance to combat that evil. Knowingly throwing away a vote to combat that kind of evil would constitute a sin of omission
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Couldn’t disagree more. Throwing away a vote is a fiction imposed by those in power to dissuade the proles from thinking for themselves
 
c4csp said:
Knowingly throwing away a vote to combat that kind of evil would constitute a sin of omission.
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Your opinion; not Catholic teaching.

Catholic teaching is that we are free to vote our conscience. My conscience might tell me Jane Thirdparty is the best candidate for the job.
 
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Tis_Bearself said:
Your opinion; not Catholic teaching.

Catholic teaching is that we are free to vote our conscience. My conscience might tell me Jane Thirdparty is the best candidate for the job.
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You have the free will to do as you please.

In our day, many Catholic’s consciences have led to relativism which is diabolical.
 
“Diabolical” is a pretty extreme term for Catholics who have an honest, conscience-based difference with you when it comes to voting. Accusing someone of sinning for voting conscientiously for a third-party candidate is also extreme.

As someone already pointed out, if we never had a third party, then a lot of shifts in US history and politics would not have taken place.
 
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In my case, a 3rd-party vote is not wasted. The person for whom I vote may have no chance of winning, but at least I can walk into and out of our little community center without having to hold my nose.

My vote counts only in the state of Alabama, and my #1 concern is that the Biden-Harris ticket not walk away with Alabama’s electoral votes. However, Alabama is not a “battleground state”; it is sufficiently red that the Democratic presidential ticket has no chance of winning. So, I can vote my own conscience. The mileage in other states may vary.

D
 
c4csp said:
In our day, many Catholic’s consciences have led to relativism which is diabolical.
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I also think diabolical is too strong. Not every state is a battleground state. In my state Trump is a shoe in. There is no contest here between him and Biden.

I always vote for third party. My vote for the presidency just doesnt account for much, other than voicing my displeasure for the candidates.

I do strongly believe in the importance of voting. I see the most impact for my vote for local issues within my state and county. This is where I see the most importance in my voting. There is always a lot of impassioned debate for voting during presidential election years, I wish there was this same level of passion for voting during non presidential election years.
 
Allie1 said:
In my state Trump is a shoe in. There is no contest here between him and Biden.
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I’m in the same situation. My state has voted Democratic in a presidential election exactly three times in the last century. I voted third party in 2016 and will do so again this year on the presidential ballot.

Local races and issues are a different story - and my vote has an impact there as those races are actually contested.
 
I have the same situation in the state where I normally vote. The Presidential election goes Dem every time. It does not matter whether a Dem or Repub is in the governor’s chair (and we’ve had both). The legislators are all overwhelmingly Dem for the past 30 years.

So, i could vote for Biden, Trump, Liz Warren, or my pet cat and the state would still go Dem. Moreover, it’s so small that nobody cares about its piddly electoral votes. I’ve actually had journalists come up to interview me at political rallies and such, and then walk away when they hear where I vote because it’s too boring for them to care.

The main reasons why I continue to bother voting are 1) there are usually local issues on the ballot that I actually can influence and that make more of a difference to my life, 2) it’s my civic duty, 3) people protested and even died for me to have the right to vote, 4) my deceased parents would expect me to vote (Although they weren’t always happy with my pick), and 5) the Church says Catholics should vote.
 
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Tis_Bearself said:
The main reasons why I continue to bother voting are 1) there are usually local issues on the ballot that I actually can influence and that make more of a difference to my life, 2) it’s my civic duty, 3) people protested and even died for me to have the right to vote, 4) my deceased parents would expect me to vote (Although they weren’t always happy with my pick), and 5) the Church says Catholics should vote.
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I’m with ya…a few years back I found myself voting in a primary where all the incumbents were running unopposed. Even in the races without an incumbent, there was only one candidate running. Literally no contested races on the ballot.

But I did it because it’s my civic duty. My dad taught me that voting was my duty, just as it was his duty to fight in World War II. And so I do.
 
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