when people ask me who i voted for in the last election, i say "gore." technically, i didn't vote for gore, but in effect, i did. i participated in third-party vote swapping: someone in a swing state would put in a vote for gore, while i put in a vote for nader. this way, in a close election, due to the electoral college system, a third party candidate's harm in a swing state would be minimized, and someone in a "safe" state could put in a vote for a third party candidate and help that candidate's goal of getting a larger segment of the total popular vote. in a state like new york, which has a heavily democrat voting base, we could have traded all the gore votes needed to wipe out all of florida's nader votes, and we still would have had a more than comfortable lead. [new york voter breakdown in 2000] | [florida breakdown in 2000]
you do the math.
vote swapping: it's baaaack!!!
note: based on polls, nader could only get a maximum of 2% of the popular vote (he needs at least 5%), so vote swapping this year is pretty much a waste.
i have a neighbor who is an attorney. he is a staunch nader supporter and plans to vote nader this time around. i told him that it was a waste and he should vote kerry to oust bush. then in four years, he can vote for a third party candidate to push the democratic party closer to whatever planet he wants to live on. after all, that's one effect of third-party candidates; they siphon away voters for major parties, voters who are disillusioned with the "middle of the road" positions of major party candidates. in a way, third party candidates keep major candidates accountable.
but in this election, that ain't the way to go, bro.
[paraphrased]
him: "nah, i think you should just vote for who you want to win."
me: "but he won't win. and he's not going to get the 5% for FEC funding, so why are you bothering? why bother getting up that morning? why bother even standing in line at the polls. you might as well just sleep in."
him: "nader rules!"
my roommate: [to neighbor] "you're dumb. vote kerry."
i'm glad he is either registered in new york or d.c. where his waste of a vote won't matter.
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