Because I support Libertarian candidates, I often get told not to ‘waste’ vote because my candidate has no chance of winning. My Republican friends tell me that if I vote for Chase Oliver, I’m helping Kamala Harris win the election and my Democratic voting friends tell me the opposite, that I’m helping Donald Trump win. The reality is, that if Harris and Trump were the only two candidates on my ballot, which is essentially the unfortunate situation in Tennessee, New York and Illinois, I would leave that portion of my ballot blank. If I lived in Maine or Alaska where there are numerous choices and the ability to rank my choices, I still wouldn’t vote for the Republican or Democratic candidates for President. I would likely rank them as follows:
- Chase Oliver
- Randall Terry
- Peter Sonski
- Richard Duncan
- Jill Stein
Notice, for me neither Trump or Harris make the cut.
I would argue that a wasted vote would be one for Trump or Harris, particularly if you are like me and you don’t live in a battleground state. I live in Ohio, where Trump is projected to win and my vote is highly unlikely to affect the outcome. However voting for Chase Oliver does have significance. If Chase were to gather 3% of the vote the Libertarian Party here in Ohio would retain ballot access for another 4 years and ballot access in Ohio is extremely difficult to retain for alternative party’s like the Green Party, Constitution Party, Socialist Party and Libertarian Party. In fact, since 2013, when Ohio changed their ballot access laws, only the Libertarian Party has been able to twice obtain ballot access. In 2017 and 2018 the Libertarian party spent a quarter of a million dollar to obtain the requisite number of signatures, only to lose ballot access in 2020 when Jo Jorgensen failed to exceed the 3% vote total. In 2024 the Libertarian Party of Ohio was again able to gain ballot access, but this time it cost $1 million to acquire over 87,000 signatures!
Don’t ‘waste’ your vote! You can’t spoil an election that’s already spoiled, vote for your favorite alternative party candidate. I would ask that you consider Chase Oliver! https://votechaseoliver.com/
Mike for Ohio 