One of the biggest issues for this election is the dissatisfaction with the individuals selected to be the candidates for the major parties. While I too can say they certainly aren't the most appealing, it is better than voting for a third party candidate. "Why?" you ask, in the famous words of Inigo Montoya "lemme 'splain."
It's true that a lot of attention has been given to Gary Johnson and Evan McMullin as possible alternatives to voting for Trump or Clinton. The biggest retort to voting for a third party candidate is the concept of throwing away your vote. "I'm voting according to my standards" or "Every vote matters" are some of the biggest justifications used.
I'm going to show that there's more to 3rd party candidates. First I must include a disclaimer: I am not against 3rd party candidates. There is a smart way to vote, however.
Let's begin.
First and foremost, 3rd pary candidates do not win presidential elections. There are those who misunderstand history and will claim that Abraham Lincoln was a 3rd party candidate and he won. This is false. The Republican party was in existence for years before Lincoln won his first term.
Throughout the history of the U.S., a major party candidate has always won the presidency. The only real exclusion to this is George Washington.
Here's one of the main reasons why: the president is the executor of laws and signer of laws. As such, the president has to cooperate with Congress. Therefore, it makes little to no sense having a president not from a major party since major party members will reside in Congress. The President relies on fellow party members to move forward with and passing his agenda.
Second, unless your vote is one of three votes and is breaking a tie, your vote will not matter. This includes voting for a major party or a third party. The only time that votes mattered was during the 2000 presidential election, and even then they didn't matter.
99.9% of the time, a candidate will obviously receive enough votes that the remaining votes don't make a difference. This is one tool that news outlets use to predetermine who wins a state. They combine exit polling with population to see if a candidate receives x amount of votes and thereby securing the nomination from that state.
The 2000 election is where there was the issue with the votes from Florida. Due to concerns with chads and the closeness of the race in Florida, a recount commenced. However, the recount was for naught when the Supreme Court stepped in and declared George W. Bush the winner.
Do all votes count? Certainly! Do all votes matter? No. This is why many people in the United States don't vote. It's called the rational voter theorem. They don't vote because their vote matters less and less to the point where it is more efficient to use their time in a different manner instead of spending the time to vote.
This leads us to the wasted vote. This is conditional upon the votes the candidates receive, especially 3rd party candidates. Unless a 3rd party candidate is even polling close to the major party candidates, you will waste your vote if that is where you cast your ballot.
Right now McMullin is polling enough to only make a difference in the state of Utah. On a national level, he's only at 3%. This leads to one of the very few advantages of voting for a third party.
If a third party garners enough votes, it tells lawmakers on various levels the policies that people want. In the case of McMullin, it would tell Utah lawmakers. However, the downside is now those policies are absorbed by major parties. This then makes the third party obsolete.
The best way to vote in any election is to go with a major party candidate, unless you want to help make a point to the major party candidates. 3rd party candidates are best used for bringing attention to matters not being addressed by the major parties.
If you still think that a 3rd party candidate will win for other offices, you have a much better chance. The higher the office the harder and slimmer the chances are of winning. Prime example being Congress with only 1% as independent politicians. Then examine your local city council and see how many are party affiliates.
3rd party candidates are useful and have a place, but not in a presidential race.
