By Matt Johnson 

My fellow Fordhamites, I am here to tell you that there is no such thing as a wasted vote. Opponents of the two-party system have their reasons for thinking this way. For example, as my democrat friends inform me, a vote for Gary Johnson is essentially a vote for Trump. Yet, according to some of my Republican colleagues, it is also a vote for Hillary Clinton. How could a vote that is equivalent to throwing your vote away simultaneously count as a vote for two different candidates?

If voting for someone you know will lose is wasting a vote, then unfortunately, most Fordham students will waste their votes this November. The president of the United States is chosen by the Electoral College, not popular vote. This means that every single vote for Trump in New York or California is completely worthless, and the same for every Clinton vote in Louisiana or Mississippi. Unless you live in one of the 11 swing states (Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia or Wisconsin), your vote has already been decided. If it can be said that voting for a third party candidate is the equivalent of throwing this vote away, the same can be said of voting republican in a blue state. I have submitted my absentee ballot for California, and I can already tell you I am going to lose on all but one thing I voted for. I suppose it could be argued that I wasted my vote. What I can take from this situation is that no one should vote. You are all throwing your votes away. Voting is a waste of time. Just stay home, watch “Parks and Recreation” and pretend you are content with the way things are.

Most say, “I do not understand how you possibly think a third party candidate can win, Matt.” I do not, and no one that votes Libertarian or Green or Bernie Sanders seriously does. The point is not to win; but to be recognized. Under current election law, if any party receives five percent of the popular vote nationwide, the Federal Election Commission has to classify it as a “minor party,” and award it a sum of money to use in the subsequent election. On state levels, a certain percentage of the vote guarantees a party will automatically be included on the ballot, instead of trying to get access via futile door-to-door petition efforts, deadline and fundraising requirements, discovering something that does not exist and returning the One Ring to Mordor.

“But aren’t most third party candidates insane?” some ask me. Being told I have to vote for someone in a democracy just because of the letter next to their name is pretty insane too. Next question.

“This is the most important election of our lifetime, just swallow your pride and” — I am going to stop you right there. First of all, not every election can be the most important election of our lifetime. That violates the definition of “most,” and it is an old argument. I am not going to “wait until next time,” because then you will tell me the next election is the most important, so on and so forth. Second, I will never, nor will anyone that has a shred of self-respect, put aside his or her morals and timidly cower to the voting booth to vote for your candidate.

If you value your dignity so little that you can be bullied or bully others into voting for a certain candidate telling someone to put aside their morals if it means supporting their preferred candidate, then you are the problem. You are why the two parties nominated two candidates each with historically unfavorable ratings. What you are saying to me is that there is shame in voting for your candidate.

So, Fordham, vote third party because you value your opinion. Your way of thinking is not dictated by what someone else tells you. Do not pick someone just because of the (R) or (D) next to their name. I am not voting third party out of “protest” or because I cannot make up my mind, but because I disagree with the two major parties on several issues.

“Okay, but who would you rather have?” Neither. To heck with both of them. They are equally awful. I am going to vote for someone I actually want to be my president.

Matt Johnson, FCRH ‘17, is a political science major from Palos Verdes, California. He is the Vice President of the College Republicans, and his views expressed above are his own.