Voting for a non-majority party candidate is, by definition, unconventional.
The chance of a third party candidate winning the 2024 presidential election is virtually impossible, yet, some USC students are planning to vote for minority parties for reasons beyond victory this November.
Morgan Richmeier, a graduate student pursuing a masters in building science and heritage conservation, plans to vote for Claudia de la Cruz and Karina Garciz, the candidates for the Party for Socialism and Liberation.
“Voting third party is about basically saying, ‘I’m opting out of the two-party theater that I think is going on,’” Richmeier said. “For years, the Democrats have used abortion rights as a carrot on a stick to get people to vote for them. But not only did they fail to enshrine it as a right when Obama was president, despite having a super majority, they also failed to protect it during the Biden administration. It’s just become theater at this point. These are the promises they make every four years – in reality, where are they delivering these promises on a federal level?”
Claudia and Karina’s grassroots-powered campaign vows to “end capitalism before it ends us,” and “replace the dictatorship of the billionaires with a socialist society where people come first.” Since their undergraduate studies in D.C., Richmeier has been involved in local grassroots organizations.
“Throughout [grassroots activism], I have come face to face with the fact that the two party system is kind of a dead end in terms of the goals that I want realized in the country, which are broadly socialist in nature: guaranteed rights to housing, guaranteed rights to a dignified life, which includes shelter, food and the right to enjoy free time, the right to a job,” Richmeier said. “These are things that I think are fully realizable in a country as wealthy as the United States.”
Some students voting third party express dissatisfaction with either major party’s ability to affect meaningful change. Senior Inayah Abdulmadei, a public relations and advertising student, believes that both candidates’ steadfast pro-Israel foreign policy have contributed to the deaths and destruction in Gaza. As of October 1 over 41,500 people have died in Gaza. In August, the Biden administration approved $20 billion of weapons sales to Israel.
“Both of the [two-party] candidates are fighting for Israel’s love. We have so many problems here that we’re not focusing on because we’re focused on Israel expanding,” Abdulmadei said. “Israel owns us. They own the senators. They own the presidential candidates. It’s like we can’t even focus on homelessness here at Skid Row. We’ve been having this issue for decades, and nothing has been happening. The same issues are coming.”
Abdulmadei plans to vote for Green Party nominees Jill Stein and Butch Ware. Stein’s “people, planet, peace” platform emphasizes calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and an arms embargo to end US complicity in violence in the Middle East.
In a close election, many would denounce voting for a third party candidate – it’s regarded as being as bad as ‘throwing away a vote’ or even helping the other side.
According to Harvard political science professor Archon Fung, voting third party from a decided state will not change the election results, though that may not apply in swing states.
“If a third party gets a certain number of votes, percentage of the voting, then they can receive matching funds for future campaigns, which, money is everything in campaigns these days, unfortunately,” said Shannon Gibson, a professor of environmental studies and political science and international relations. “I hear daily how disenfranchised and disenchanted students are with the two party system. I think that voting third party sends signals, not just to Democrats, but to both parties, that younger generations are looking for something different.”
Increasingly, research finds that young people are becoming disillusioned and disengaged with the political process despite having significant voting power. While a third party candidate may not be a definitive cure-all, that’s exactly the point for those taking the alternative path.
“Hopefully with the third party vote, people are also oriented towards building a movement that supports building power outside the two-party system,” Richmeier said. “It’s not just about voting. It’s about building people’s organizations broadly that are active, really all the time, not just during election season.”