I've been debating to myself whether or not voting for a third party candidate (Either PSL's de la Cruz or Green's West, regardless of my criticisms for both) would be the most "effective" use of my time in election season this year. The argument for "not" is that maybe voting at all is bad because it legitimizes this system, even if a third party candidate getting a record turnout would grab more attention (and piss off Blue MAGA cultists) than simply not going since it's not like abysmal turnouts, even by this country's historical standards, are newsworthy at this point. So I guess I have to ask how you people rationalize voting or not this year?
I fully understand that this is more symbolic than anything else and won't materially affect change for a while but it's still something to think about.
I feel like voting third party or writing in sends a clear message of "fuck you, this is who I'd rather have."
However not voting pisses off libs more and is the funnier option.
If you vote third party they can't just write voters off as being too lazy to vote though. I can imagine them making compulsory voting a hot button issue if Trump wins. Mind you, they'll just find an excuse no matter how it happens