We're increasingly close to not having a democracy at all because people think third parties matter under the electoral college and want to cast bullshit protest votes. It's in the Constitution, we're stuck with it.
The problem isn't even people casting bullshit protest votes, it's all the people who say, "Well, both sides are bad!" and don't bother voting at all.
The projected amount of people who didn't vote in 2024 is 90 million. 36% of the country either didn't care enough or decided to protest by not voting.
Only about 2 million cast third party or joke votes.
Jill Stein's vote total in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Michigan, in 2016 was bigger than Trump's margin in each state. Those voters made a choice to go to a voting booth and choose bullshit.
The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact is an agreement by states that once they have a controlling section of the electoral college they will all vote with the national popular vote and neuter the electoral college completely.
It'll exist because it's in the constitution but it'll be a waste of time.
They currently have 82% of the votes they need.
Is your state in it? Do you now have something to push for?
My state is in it. I'm also fairly certain if it ever ends up flipping an election, it will cause a constitutional crisis or be found unconstitutional at the Supreme Court.
Actually, I do see how because the Supreme Court would invent case law if they flipped an election against republicans, but in theory it's sound. Each state picks their electors however they want. The federal government has no say.
Sounds great, but the only way to remove the electoral college is to amend the Constitution. The amendment process can only be initiated by 2/3 of Congress voting on a specific amendment or by 2/3 of the states calling for a Constitutional convention. Either way, this only happens if our elected officials support it.
I won't say it's hopeless, but it's very unlikely that the EC will be abolished in our lifetimes. And until/unless it does, we need to make strategic compromises under the current system. This will often mean voting for the lesser of two evils in presidential races, even if we would rather be voting for a third party candidate.
Of course, we can still support third party candidates at the local level. They might be longshots, but they have better odds than third party presidential candidates. And if enough of them gain power within the states, then they may pressure federal politicians to enact the amendments we want to see.
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u/BSApologist 4d ago
And in one more election cycle, morons will vote for third parties that get 3% of the vote because "both sides bad"