If you\u2019re conflicted over this election, we take that as a sign that you\u2019re a discerning voter.<\/p>\n
We hope your inner conflict won\u2019t discourage you from casting a ballot, especially for many RCTC students who are eligible to vote this fall for the first time. The Echo\u2019s belief in the importance of elections is succinctly explained by our favorite T-shirt slogan of the season: \u201cNot voting isn\u2019t an act of rebellion, it\u2019s an act of surrender.\u201d<\/p>\n
If you can\u2019t bring yourself to support either major-party candidate, there are other options. Nine presidential candidates are on Minnesota\u2019s ballot.<\/p>\n
If you lean right, there are several candidates who align better with your views other than Republican nominee Donald Trump, such as Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson, Constitution Party candidate Darrell Castle or independent candidate Evan McMullin. If you lean left but can\u2019t comfortably vote for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, you can choose Green Party candidate Jill Stein.<\/p>\n
Democrats will tell you that voting for a third-party candidate is throwing away your vote and enabling Trump\u2019s campaign. Republicans will tell you that voting for a third-party candidate is throwing away your vote and enabling Clinton\u2019s campaign.<\/p>\n
They both can\u2019t be right.<\/p>\n
Voting third party is the only intellectually honest response when the major parties put forth unacceptable candidates. It sends a message to the political establishment that you won\u2019t mindlessly follow empty rhetoric and be taken for granted. If enough of us vote our conscience, the winner \u2013 which will undoubtedly be Clinton or Trump -will ascend to the presidency by plurality but can\u2019t honestly claim a mandate.<\/p>\n
Minnesota, the state that elected Jesse Ventura governor, has a history of independent voting. In the Democratic caucuses, we chose Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders over Mrs. Clinton. On the Republican side, we provided Florida Sen. Marco Rubio with his only victory of the primary campaign.<\/p>\n
If you truly believe that either Mrs. Clinton or Mr. Trump best represent your views, go ahead and cast your ballot for them. But if you\u2019re conflicted by the thought of voting for either one, don\u2019t buy into the myth that they are the only worthy candidates to choose from.<\/p>\n
There are only two ways to throw away your vote \u2013 not showing up at the polls, or casting a ballot for someone you don\u2019t believe in.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s just as important to vote for other offices, ranging from your representative in Congress, state legislature, school board, city council, county commissioner, district court judge and soil and conservation district supervisor.<\/p>\n
If you don\u2019t recognize the names on the ballot, don\u2019t let that discourage you from voting. There\u2019s still time to familiarize yourself with the candidates.<\/p>\n
After all, the fact that you\u2019re reading this editorial is even more evidence that you\u2019re a discerning voter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
If you\u2019re conflicted over this election, we take that as a sign that you\u2019re a discerning voter. We hope your inner conflict won\u2019t discourage you from casting a ballot, especially for many RCTC students who are eligible to vote this fall for the first time. The Echo\u2019s belief in the importance of elections is succinctly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rctc.edu\/echo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rctc.edu\/echo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rctc.edu\/echo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rctc.edu\/echo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rctc.edu\/echo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=606"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rctc.edu\/echo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rctc.edu\/echo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rctc.edu\/echo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rctc.edu\/echo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}