US Politics |OT|

[Bofferbrauer2]

SvennoJ said:

Bofferbrauer2 said:

They shouldn't skip, they should field a better candidate instead.

The first past the post / winner takes all system pretty much prevents that. We have more than 2 parties in Canada but it's the same problem for any new candidate / party to get any significant representation. The percentage of voters for each party is no reflected in parliament. In the US it's even harder with more states and a 2 party system. Any new candidate needs to beat both entranced parties in multiple states to make any impact at all.

The primaries are all over the place, fielding a better candidate for an existing party, you need a lot of money and influence basically.
https://www.usa.gov/primaries-caucuses

It's a problem here as well, vote for the green party for example or pick the non worst option of those much more likely to pass the post in your voting district.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-canadas-election-laws-have-sidelined-green-voters-for-far-too-long/
Last election the support for the green party collapsed as there's just no point voting for them :(

The most seats it has ever won in the House of Commons (in 2019) was three, even though the popular vote, of which the Greens commanded 6.5 per cent, demonstrated they should have been awarded at least 20 of Parliament’s 338 seats.

Not surprisingly, after such a long record of dismal results, many supporters have given up on the Greens. In the 2021 election, their support dropped to less than 3 per cent.

It's not surprising many people rather cast a protest vote by not voting than 'legitimizing' the election by casting a vote that doesn't count. Or vote for a party you don't really agree with at all :/

Let's face it, we don't really live in a democracy, only by name.

It's still a democracy, though a deeply outdated and flawed one, and on the fast lane to become a oligarchy/corporatocracy.

My suggestion is to vote third party in states that are "safe" for either party. It won't affect the election's result due to winner takes all, but would denote some serious problems underneath that are cooking up if the sheer number of third party votes is high enough country-wide. Not wanting to risk their safe states, the main parties could thus get pushed to do something that they couldn't get bothered to do otherwise.