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Comment by grvdrm | Hacker News Reader

Fair take, I think.

But we didn’t have to vote DJT into office as a counteracting force. Whether every decision is bad or not, not my point. It just seemed obvious that he wasn’t the right guy.

Some people can’t vote against their party. Some people believe write in is the move.

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A write in, or even just scrawling "FUCK YOU" across the ballot is at least an active protest. It shows that you aren't apathetic to, or okay with, what is going on. It'd be interesting to see a write in campaign for someone with enough public support to be more than just a protest vote though. It'd be interesting to see someone campaign to the public with no interest in participating in the two party system at all, just asking the public to write them in when the time comes.

Voting is a massively multiplayer game, not an individual sport.

If you want to protest, please do it. But throwing away your vote is not a protest, it’s a method of ceding a small amount of power.

Well said. It's not that I disagree with the concept, just that the action itself is not meaningful to the overall process (not without a lot more people doing the same).

I've never written a name not on the ballot but wonder sorts of feelings arise afterwards. Is it "Good, I did the right thing"?

There are plenty of third-party candidates in most elections. However, most people are convinced that they have to vote for the lesser of two evils. In addition, a third party or independent candidate who starts getting too much public support will be likely be sabotaged long before election day. For example look up Butch Ware's recent run for governor in California. It's just the tip of the iceberg in how the two party system maintains control.

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