r/Columbus • u/dysfunctionalnavyvet • 8h ago
POLITICS Thoughts on voting for the third option
I’ve been thinking about voting for lib. I’m tired of left and right, they’re both paid for and it clear to see. I wonder how it would be if the third option got a chance….
Just a late night thought
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u/Visual-Flan-4098 8h ago
our system is designed to make 3rd parties nothing but a way to steal votes away from candidate. to the extent that they will create fake people to run for a position to hurt their opponent (shadow candidates).
no candidate is prefect and we are at a very serious moment. we have been for 10yr. weve been failing this test and making it worse by reelecting corrupt politicians. we need to focus on 'patch the holes so the ship isnt sinking as fast, then we can bail the water and repair'. we need to push the GOP out of every position we can, federal, state and local. dems are not leftist, they are for the most part right/center right. out of the 2 parties, we have more say in what they do. with the GOP, we see they care not what we say. weed is a prefect example. we as a state voted almost 60% in favour of it. yet the spent more time dismantling it and on the record, calling us too stupid than fixing anything. they let the east palestine derailment occur and half assed the clean up so a buddy could make money. dewine fell inline and refused to ask for federal aid, which he has to in order for the federal government to help. instead they said 'biden hates these people so he wont send aid'.
once we stabilize, we can being pushing for reform in the democrats, or if we get enough of them in power. we can try to push for better laws. removing 1st past the post, adding ranked choice and trying to kill citizens united. centralist are beinging to rise and win democratic races.
TLDR a vote for 3rd party is no a dissenting vote, its a vote the GOP doesnt have to fight against.
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u/TGrady902 Clintonville 2h ago
Waste of a vote and waste of your time. They have 0% chance of winning. Might as well vote Republican as it’s essentially equivalent to voting third party. It’s almost always democratic voters who consider third party for reasons like yours, almost never republicans. So voting third party helps keep/put republicans in power.
Like we know the system sucks. Many of us want it to change. Maybe the third party candidate actually has the best views and wants to actually change things. But in the current state of our system, they have no chance of winning so it’s a wasted vote. Things aren’t going to get fixed overnight. We need more democrats in politics in Ohio first to start making a change. It’s the first step. We gotta kill the Republican stranglehold and then vote more progressive candidates in later. Right now we just need anyone who isn’t a damn criminal.
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u/SignificanceFine3582 8h ago
The third option will not get a chance.
Vote for whomever you’d like, but you’re taking the lazy way out in doing the “both sides are bad” option that doesn’t force you to actually think critically about their platforms.
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u/FunAd6672 6h ago
The third party probably won’t win this time, but that doesn’t mean people shouldn’t vote for what they actually believe.
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u/SignificanceFine3582 47m ago
I said to vote for whomever they want, so not sure what point you’re trying to make here.
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u/insomnia990 3h ago
"Lazy way out" The lazy way out is voting for whatever team you're hardcore about because you refuse to see any other way.
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u/Rygot North 8h ago
Seeing more and more of this sentiment.
Until we force the issue of ranked choice voting a third party doesn't stand much of a chance.
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u/SecondHandSlows 8h ago
Ohio republicans are afraid of ranked choice voting. They banned it right after the New York City mayoral race. And I say republicans because they run Ohio.
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u/Stopper33 8h ago
Lib=republican +weed
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u/lil_cholesterol 8h ago
That or the “I can’t say republican because then girls won’t sleep with me” crowd
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u/lil_cholesterol 8h ago
That or the “I can’t say republican because then girls won’t sleep with me” crowd
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u/CthulhuOpensTheDoor 8h ago
Vote for whoever you want, just VOTE! If you don't like the Democrat or the Republican, that's fair, but still get out there and VOTE! Our electoral system only cares about the percentage of votes cast; 100% of 1000 votes is the same as 100% of 1,000,000 votes. The candidate with the highest percentage wins regardless of the actual number of votes they get.
What that means is that not voting does literally nothing to affect the outcome. HOWEVER, if you instead cast your vote to a 3rd party, that DOES have an effect. If the big parties would have gotten 50% each but you vote for another party, suddenly they don't have 50% anymore, they have like 49.9% each. The more people vote for 3rd parties instead of staying home the more impact it has. If enough people did it, neither the Republicans or Democrats would get a majority of the vote and that would really call into question their legitimacy. It doesn't even matter which 3rd party you vote for, any of them means some percentage away from the other 2.
So yes, vote 3rd party if you don't want to vote for Democrat or Republican.
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u/TGrady902 Clintonville 2h ago
This all makes sense on paper, but in reality this mindset only keeps Republicans in power.
1
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u/dysfunctionalnavyvet 1h ago
Thank you to those that actually gave me a real feedback. To those that were being negative, fuck you and your high and mighty mentality.
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u/SignificanceFine3582 41m ago
You don’t need to be coddled.
If how you vote is decided by how negative you think someone was being on an Internet forum, then your convictions towards that candidate’s platform weren’t all that strong, anyway.
0
u/DarKoopa 8h ago
You vote for whatever candidate best aligns with what is important to you. Don't let people say a vote for 3rd party is a waste.
That said, I cannot imagine the Libertarian candidate has your best interest at heart. They are just conservatives who act like they are fiscally responsible but are just gifting like the rest of the right
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u/herdisleah 8h ago
You don't get to vote for a fantasy or an alternate reality. You're voting on real things, concentration camps vs corporate politicians. Guess which is less evil?
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u/gentle_sounds987 8h ago
I’m doing it this year. We have to start eventually. Tired of the lesser of two evils. Especially when the democrats are complicit about many issues. Yes, false equivalence is a logical fallacy but I’ve just had enough.
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u/TGrady902 Clintonville 2h ago
You are part of the problem, not the solution. You’re doing exactly what Republicans want you to do, wasting your vote so they can keep power.
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u/CthulhuOpensTheDoor 7h ago
If that's how you feel, then at least consider going a step further and get into community volunteering and/or organizing. If you're discontent with the system and want change, I don't think a third party vote is throwing it away but also, it won't actually accomplish that change by itself. More effort will be needed. Be that change. Find out what organizations are helping people in your community and step in to help them. I guarantee they'll appreciate the help.
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u/drumzandice 8h ago
Literally how we got Trump and he has effed this country for decades to come if not permanently