Is Voting for a Third-Party Candidate Throwing Away a Vote?

by Paige Cook

The last third-party candidate to be sworn in as president in the United States was Millard Fillmore, a member of the whig party. Fillmore was inaugurated on July 9th, 1850 after the death of president Zachary Taylor. You heard that right, he was inaugurated 170 years ago. Fillmore ran again in 1856, but his campaign was unsuccessful, only garnering 8 electoral votes. There hasn’t been a third-party candidate sworn in as president since Fillmore, so why do people continue voting for third-party candidates? 

In spite of the fact that third-party candidates rarely win elections, they can have some sort of effect on them. In the 2016 election, candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump both had low approval numbers, so many voters turned to third-party candidates on the principle of choosing the “lesser evil”. Gary Johnson, running on the libertarian ticket, garnered nearly 4.5 million votes, which made up a little bit more than 3 percent of the popular vote. Prior to Gary Johnson, Ross Perot ran as an independent and garnered 18.9% of the popular vote, which some say cost the Bush reelection in 1992. Going back to the 2016 election, nomination of two unfavorable Republican and Democrat candidates can lead to a low voter turnout, which is why some voters turn to voting for third-party candidates, even if the voters know those third-party candidates don’t have a chance at the presidency. 

Voting for third-party candidates can also be seen as making a statement to both the Democrat and Republican parties. If a third-party candidate receives a considerable amount of the vote, democrats and republicans alike may begin to alter their manifesto. 

In conclusion, voting for a third-party candidate isn’t a waste of a vote. If more people can come to the conclusion of that, third-party candidates could do much better. If enough people vote for third-party candidates that they truly believe in, democrats and republicans will both get the memo that there is change needed. Learn about third-party candidates and read about their ideas, voting for the candidate you believe in is not throwing away your vote. If you break away from the classic two-party system, you will be contributing to making the United States a true democracy.