Most voters don’t vote for—often don’t even consider voting for—third parties because they view voting for a third party as helping the establishment party they most hate. Disenchanted Democrats continue to vote for Democrats because they don’t want Republicans; disenchanted Republicans continue to vote for Republicans because they don’t want Democrats. Both are trapped by fear and loathing.

Disenchanted Republicans should dialogue and pair up with disenchanted Democrats and both vote for third party or independent candidates. That is, instead of you and a friend canceling out each other’s votes, one self-loathingly voting for Harris and the other for Trump, you vote for the third-party candidates you actually want. You both get to vote your preference without helping the candidate you most dislike.

VotePact frees up votes in pairs from each of the establishment parties. This liberates the voters to push the lever for their actual preference from among those on the ballot, rather than just pick the “least bad” of the two majors. It doesn’t change the balance between the establishment parties, but “syphons off” votes from them equally. The pair could each vote for different candidates, or they could vote for the same candidate. If the latter, it could open the path to an actual electoral victory for an enterprising independent candidate.

We’re trying to free people from the fear of voting for candidates that actually represent their beliefs. Over the years, real independents, principled progressives, libertarians, authentic conservatives, and others have been unrelentingly manipulated by the establishments of the two major parties. They should wake up to the fact that they can join together, rather than be kept apart by establishment party apparatchiks who exploit their fear to maintain the ruling duopoly. It can lead to an independent or emerging party candidate winning.