this post was submitted on 24 Oct 2024
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It really depends on which state you live in whether or not you have the luxury of a protest vote. If you live in NY state that has a 20% lead for Harris, sure, some people can vote Jill Stein or something. But if you live in a state that actually might be close or not an obvious blowout, you can't vote that way. You actually have to be tactical with your vote, not idealistic or symbolic.
Whenever I hear people pushing the, you're either with us or against us, kind of rhetoric it makes me shake my head. It should go without saying, but obviously it doesn't, that you don't get to tell other people how to vote, and if you try to, they're going to think you're a raving lunatic. If you actually want to convince them to vote, you might want to consider making a plan for how to reasonably sway their views.
Or don't, do whatever you want, it's your life.
LOL, what rhetoric? I'm generally of the opinion that voting is an end in itself in democracies, and wish we had mandatory/compulsory voting laws. If you live in a democracy there should be obligation to vote, and the citizens should feel confident that we are accounting for the will of the people. But with the electoral college and first past the post system, there are realities of outcomes. There are really only 2 possible outcomes of a presidential race. And if you live in a swing state your vote does a lot more to tip realize one of those 2 outcomes. So the motivation to vote should be to help achieve one of those 2 outcomes that you find more preferable. If you live in a state that is not even close, that is when you don't have to worry much about your vote impacting the outcome and therefore have more latitude. I've voted 3rd party in multiple elections, but I did so in good conscious knowing I wasn't impacting the outcome of actual leadership due to the area I vote in. In pure rational choice model, sure, your individual vote likely won't matter (how often is a race decided by 1 vote?), but if the level of effort to vote is low, might as well do it just in case and for a sense of moral civic duty to a democracy.