Discover the truth behind the ‘wasted vote’ narrative and its effects on voter engagement and electoral outcomes.
I’ve spent the past 14 months crisscrossing Missouri, trying to convince voters to choose an independent (me) over the options the Republicans and the Democrats are offering them. While many voters are so tired of the two-party dysfunction that they readily pledge their vote to me, others give me some version of this response: “Jared, I love what you’re doing, and I agree we need change, but I’m afraid a vote for you would be a wasted vote.”
I’m sure you’ve heard the argument before: a vote for an independent (or third party) candidate is a “wasted vote”. The two major parties make sure to repeat the claim thousands of times every election cycle, and the media doesn’t challenge it (and often reinforces it).
I submit to you that there are at least two good reasons you should reject the “wasted vote” argument this year.
Reason one: it doesn’t make sense.
Proponents of the “wasted vote” myth generally argue that independent candidates are extremely unlikely to win, therefore voting for one of them is a wasted vote. But if voting for a candidate who is unlikely to win is a wasted vote, what about votes for Republicans in deep blue states or votes for Democrats in deep red states? Is a vote for Kamala Harris in Missouri a “wasted” vote? Is a vote for Donald Trump in California a “wasted” vote?
This line of thinking is also problematic because it treats voting like betting on a horse race or a sporting event: the goal is to guess who is going to win. That is not why we vote. We vote to make a statement about what we think our country (or state, or city, etc.) needs. Win probability shouldn’t factor into that calculus.
Finally, the wasted vote thinking is flawed because it implies that you should change your vote based on the assumed behavior of other voters. In other words, “you shouldn’t vote for that person because nobody else will,” or “you should vote for that person because everyone else is going to.” Most Americans hate it when leaders wait to see what everyone else is doing before they take a stand on something. Why should we, as voters, behave the same way?
Reason two: your vote will help start a new reasonable, moderate political movement in Missouri.
While I am an independent candidate, I’ll be listed on the ballot under the Better Party. The Better Party is a new political party in Missouri intended to give ballot access to independent candidates all over the state, at all levels of government—not just in this election, but in future elections as well.
The Better Party does not stand for a certain set of policy ideas, rather it stands for a specific approach to policy making. Specifically, Better Party candidates commit to three things: 1) treating everyone with kindness and respect (especially political opponents); 2) considering ideas from all over the political spectrum, and judging those ideas based on their merits, not based on who they came from; and 3) rejecting the idea that “the ends justify the means” in politics.
In order for the Better Party to become an officially established party in Missouri, I need to receive at least 2% of the vote in this year’s U.S. Senate election. That means that even if you don’t believe I have a chance of receiving the 35-40% of the vote I need to win the Senate race, you can still significantly impact the future of Missouri politics by helping me get to 2%.
We all recognize that our politics are seriously broken. If we send a Republican or a Democrat—no matter who they are—to the Senate, nothing will change about the way Washington works. I invite you to cast your vote for a Better kind of politics, both today and in the future.
Jared Young is a former CEO and attorney who is currently an independent candidate for U.S. Senate in Missouri, running under the banner of the Better Party.
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