Today is election day. In less than an hour, polls will begin to close. Sometime in the next few days—maybe even tonight—we’ll know who is going to be the next president of the United States.
Our two options are Donald Trump, a felon who speaks to Benjamin Netanyahu daily and says he wants to “finish the job” in Gaza; and Kamala Harris, a woman who has made it clear she will not stop arms sales to Israel if elected, repeatedly silenced Arab American voices, and tried to gain more support by shifting right and stating she’ll work with Republicans.
In protest of the two-party system, many socialist and other progressive voters have opted either to not vote in the election or to vote third party. Jill Stein, whose pick for vice president was recently outed as anti-trans and pro-life, isn’t the ideal candidate. And Claudia De la Cruz, the nominee of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, has been disqualified from the ballot in multiple states.
And many people argue that there’s no point in not voting, that one of the two main candidates will win anyways, and that voting third party is a vote against Harris—or a vote for Trump.
Others think that there is a point, that we should stop settling for the “lesser of two evils,” that a new way forward is necessary for reforming systems within the U.S. They also stress that, no matter who you vote for in the presidential election, it’s important to get involved in local politics and support the third party movement from the ground up.
Over the past few weeks, Burning Rose interviewed four leftist Northeastern students to gauge where they stand, what issues matter most to them, and whether or not their votes would have changed if they were from a different state. Their responses exemplify the strife in the current political atmosphere and are a preview of what future elections may look like.
Fuck Donald Trump. Fuck Kamala Harris, but vote for her if you must. Get involved with local politics, and stay involved. Free Palestine. Let this election be a segue into an end to the U.S. imperial genocide machine.
The following Q&A has been edited for length and clarity.
Isabelle Garofalo is a fourth year Human Services and Criminal Justice major. She is from Georgia, and she voted for Kamala Harris in the election.
Sofie Roger is a fourth year Chemical Engineering major. She is from Washington, and she voted third party in the election.
Dakota Castro-Jarret is a fourth year Journalism major. He is from Pennsylvania, and he voted third party in the election.
Steph Ware is a fourth year Journalism and Media and Screen Studies major. They are from Texas, and they voted for Kamala Harris in the election.
Isabelle (Voted for Harris in Georgia): I would say I'm definitely more leftist.
Sofie (Voted third party in Washington): I would say that I am of the left.
Dakota (Voted third party in Pennsylvania): I mean, I guess I consider myself a socialist.
Steph (Voted for Harris in Texas): What would I label myself politically? (T: You can call yourself a socialist if you want to.) No, I'm trying to figure out a word I can say without saying that. Um… Anti-imperialist. I would say that encompasses my basic ideology. I wouldn't say I agree with the Republican Party or the Democratic Party, but I don't fall in the center of them. I would say that I fall a little bit further left than the Democratic Party wants to be sometimes, or a lot of the time.
Isabelle (Harris, GA): I'm a criminal justice major, so overall I would say a lot of issues put me a lot further left, because as I got more into it, I was like, “Oh, there's really no way to fix any of these issues in the systems that we have right now. We have to take it all down and rebuild it.”
Sofie (Third party, WA): What that looks like to people that potentially don't share that same politic would probably be on the border of more socialist or communist. What that looks like within leftism for me [is something] I don't have a lot of clarity on. I do like Che Guevara's approach to politics, so maybe a Chayista would be a good term for that.
Dakota (Third party, PA): To me, that means fighting for a world in which the majority of the people—the working class—have control over how society functions instead of our current world, in which only the 1% really have control over how society functions.
Steph (Harris, TX): What does it mean to me? Um, I guess, [it’s] just like my life experiences. Being black, trans, nonbinary, and a lesbian, and from Texas, it's all shaped my political beliefs. Also, I'm really into history, and in Texas, you're not really taught. When I was in an AP Gov class, I was dreading it. I was like, “this literally fucking sucks.” Even though I was good at it, and I knew a lot about the American government, I felt [there were] more pressing matters. What I learned was obviously European colonialism, all that stuff, but not how this impacts predominantly non-white countries.
Isabelle (Harris, GA): I would say racial equality was one of the more mobilizing factors for me. I grew up in a really, really white, conservative area. So that was really prominent, being aware of racism. And then I would say that LGBT issues are pretty similar for me. I grew up in a Christian school where you weren't allowed to be gay. That stopped sitting right with me when I was pretty young. I would say reproductive rights and women's issues are also really significant to me.
Sofie (Third party, WA): A lot of my political framing, or framing of things, developed in the Pacific Northwest, which is where I grew up. I grew up in nearby Seattle, and we kind of always have a climate consciousness about us. And what I care about now is anything that is encompassed within social justice and restorative justice practices, I think [those] are the center of my politics. Climate change is just a big driving factor, and that encompasses a whole bunch of things. Cost of living and access to care is [another], especially coming from Seattle where your cost of housing is a joke. It's a joke. And it’s so compounded with so many other issues.
Dakota (Third party, PA): I guess my top issues are—I mean, there's so many, but I think definitely the general state of the economy, labor issues, abortion and women's rights and also queer rights.
Steph (Harris, TX): What's been on my mind the past year has been what's happening in Gaza and the Middle East. It's kind of nerve wracking, because I feel like every time I'm on social media—whether it's Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, anywhere—I'm seeing children literally being blown to bits. Seeing that all the time and feeling like you can't really do anything about it… it freaking sucks. It sucks. Yeah, that's definitely what's been on my mind the most, for sure. But I also think that other issues are important in the U.S. right now. Coming from Texas, and being in Massachusetts right now… I just got top surgery six months ago, and I don’t think I would have been able to get it or get it as soon as I did [if I went through the process in Texas].
Isabelle (Harris, GA): This one of those like, obviously I'm a leftist voting for Kamala Harris, I'm not going to get all my needs met by her as a candidate. I will say, looking into some of her policies as an attorney general, they didn't always have the desired effect, but the intention was there. A lot of the stuff that she did was actually trying to target a lot of issues, like truancy and things like that, trying to take a more systemic approach, but a lot of them didn't work that great. Not all of them failed, and the intention was so good with this policy, but we have such a flawed system that it's so difficult to work within that. If the implementation with the district attorneys’ offices were uniform, maybe things could have been implemented better, but overall I like the policies.
I think it makes me feel safer knowing that even if Republicans take back the House and the Senate, that even if an abortion ban did come to the office, there would not be someone there that would be willing to sign it. As far as women's rights goes, that just makes me feel better. Obviously Gaza is a really important issue for me right now, and I'm not expecting Kamala Harris to really do stuff like that. But at the same time, I sent in my ballot today, and it came with a notice that Cornel West and Claudia and Karina were disqualified in Georgia. I couldn't even vote for candidates that would do those things, and she's more just the closest I'm going to get.
Sofie (Third party, WA): Kamala is conservative. I don't view her as progressive in the slightest. I think that she will push for that Central American identity, which is gonna probably help her win and gives her a lot of political sway, but I think it's gonna return us back to that “political decorum” era we had under Obama, where you had things be seemingly progressive because we had, in terms of race and ethnicity, a more diverse representation, and we kind of tokenized politics to think that that [is] what we should actually be witnessing.
I don't think she's going to do anything substantial when it comes to decreasing the cost of living or making healthcare that much more accessible. You're not really going to see that. Or at least it will be very slow acting. In terms of climate change, I don't foresee her going after big oil substantially, like, that's a very strong pillar of America and a backbone of American markets. Also, you can't really claim that you are concerned about climate change or concerned about the safety of people if you are the largest military industrial complex that exists in our world. These two statements, for me and other people, like they can’t coincide. I don't expect much, but I do expect at the bare minimum that you do get a promise of the right to bodily autonomy, which also isn't true for everybody. When it comes to many of the other identities and demographics, that's not the case because of predisposed practices that exist in healthcare.
Dakota (Third party, PA): I think Kamala Harris has done, I don't know, what every Democrat does. I don't think she's uniquely horrible. It's just like, we're pretty clearly in a position where the right wing is rising across America and it's a real existential threat to the majority of Americans, and there's just no real opposition. And the Biden administration, with her in it and her campaign, is providing that.
Besides the disagreements I have with her, I think that’s the biggest thing that's concerning to me. It’s like, oh, okay, you say you want to fight Trump, you say you want to defeat Trump or whatever, but the reality is that he didn't get defeated when Biden got elected to office, these ideas still exist, and arguably they've grown stronger. That to me is an implicit failure for the Democrats. Like, do anything to improve the state of society. This has made more people more intrigued by Trump, even though obviously Trump is not going to do anything to improve any livelihoods. It’s very frustrating to see a candidate continuously take more steps to the right and then be like, “Why doesn’t anyone support me?”
Steph (Harris, TX): I know what the Texas Supreme Court said that youth couldn't get gender affirming care anymore a few months ago. That kind of stuff was really disheartening, [and it happened] in multiple Southern states. And it all happened under the Biden administration. I feel like people say, “Oh well, what are you going to do? He's the president.” Well, he's the president, so, I don’t know, I would think he would do something if he cared about trans people that much, instead of using us as a scapegoat to get people to vote for Kamala Harris.
And then what frustrates me is that Kamala Harris runs on trans rights, and liberals are like, “If you're not gonna vote for Kamala, it's a vote for Trump.” Which is like, okay, you can have that opinion. But then they'll be like, “Um, well, you're trans, your trans siblings are gonna be mad whenever they can't get surgeries anymore blah blah blah,” and I'm like, “We can't get them now, you know. That's happening now.” So that's just very frustrating. And a lot of time they infantilize the president, saying he can't do anything “because we don't have Congress.” And, like, even if they don't have Congress on their side or whatever, he can still do things.
What really got me was when I was watching the Democratic National Convention. First off, her barring pro-Palestinian Democrats, Palestinians, Muslims, and Arab Americans from speaking at the convention. I was like, oh my god, that's insane. And then it recently came out that she did it because she didn't want to say anything bad about Israel. Which is crazy, I feel. And it didn't even end there. She was sounding a little bit like Trump, at least in regards to her border policy, saying that she's gonna try to lock down the border, that she's gonna be tougher on illegal immigration than Trump is. I was like, what? Years ago, y'all were literally arguing against children being in cages. It's sounding like you're just using it as a talking point to get sympathy for people to vote for you, but then you actually don't really care about the issues you're talking about. It just felt really disingenuous.
Isabelle (Harris, GA): Yeah, I think that's obviously a big one, it’s the implications of “if she loses, what does it mean to have another Trump term?” I hate doing the lesser of two evils, but I think that operating as an American citizen with American politics and being aware of U.S. imperialism and the military industrial complex and all these things, it’s like, we are a country of violence. There's only so much I can do. And I'm going into a field where I'm going to try to make a difference, but at the end of the day, none of the politicians I'm going to be voting for are going to be revolutionaries. Not at this point. But when they're there, I love it. My dad's voting for Jill Stein. I don't know where that's coming from, but he's like, “this is ridiculous that we have only these two parties.” I'm like “yeah, so vote third party locally, get involved with other candidates on the local level.”
I'm plugged in with the socialist candidates that are running in the Atlanta area, and in my opinion, weighing that out of the two candidates, the presidency is not going to ever give me what I think we need as a country. They're serving to uphold U.S. power in the world. I look at the foreign policy issues with Gaza and stuff [and think] that Kamala Harris is not going to be the one to defy a hundred years of U.S. foreign policy. She's not going to be the one to do that. And there's no way I think that would be something to expect out of the president if you're a leftist who's aware of the systems and how they work.
Sofie (Third party, WA): 100%. That is my opinion. That is a driving motivator for my decision to vote third party. I don't think I can explain it any better than how Angela Davis does in her book Freedom is a Constant Struggle. I think there you will find all the ideas that I think are reflected in this decision to vote third party.
Dakota (Third party, PA): I think it is a big “motivator.” I feel like even if this wasn't happening, I still maybe would have the opinion I do, but I don't know. I obviously don’t live in that world, but that’s probably the case. It is a really big issue for me, but I also recognize that either candidate would continue this war. It's too deep in the way America needs to function for it not to be supported.
I don't want to say that I don't blame Harris, but there's no president in American history who would be like, “you know, actually let's step out of Israel.” I think for so many people, in our generation specifically, and for a lot of Arab American voters, it's this really disgusting, clear sign that Democrats are capable of—I think they've been able to get away scot free because of how horrific Trump is—but this is a really clear example of the willingness to support a very disturbing, horrific event. I think it really has shaken up a lot of people, including myself. I think that most people I know who either aren't going to vote for Harris or are considering voting third party are mainly doing it because of the war and genocide, which is not surprising to me.
Steph (Harris, TX): [Harris] said we’re going to be the strongest military in the world. And I was like, girl, we already are. Why are we acting like we’re at constant threat? We are the most powerful country in the world, hands down. We are an empire. Our military is the strongest in the world. It’s the most well funded military in the world. So for her to go on stage and say that, I’m like, “Holy crap, no. Please, no.” We could be using that money for so many other different things.
Also, our taxes are funding what the UN’s International Court of Justice has called genocide. Numerous experts, non-governmental organizations, and journalists on the ground have—all of them have called it a genocide. More than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed, and I think almost 20,000 children, and this number is way bigger than what they're actually saying because they haven't counted all the bodies, or they haven't seen how many people are actually missing.
Hearing things like that is crazy. And I feel like learning more about what goes on in the Middle East is also just crazy, especially because some of the framing in Western media is that “it's so far away” and “it's so complicated,” like “they're just in constant turmoil, that's just their state of being, that's just how they are.” Like, no, I think we definitely have a big impact on what's going on. The fact that our tax dollars are funding that, when [they] could be going to free healthcare, free college or just helping the working class—like, a bunch of people cannot afford to eat, and 50% or something of people live paycheck to paycheck and are one missed paycheck away from being on the street, or like, people getting paid are not able to live a normal life but we’re still sending money to outside countries—it just doesn’t make any sense.
Isabelle (Harris, GA): I think she could be less black and white about it. It's hard because, I'm looking at her and I do view her as a more flexible candidate, even compared to Biden, she publicly called for a ceasefire, where a lot of even democratic politicians weren't doing that. But I think people overlook it because she is like “I unequivocally support Israel's right to self defense.” Using less concrete language, I think, would be really important for her to show that she's flexible. [She could even] be like, “I condemn the murder of 30,000 innocent people.” Even just saying that and acknowledging that something wrong is happening would be important. She could also be, like, “We need to still make sure that we're upholding Israel to international law.” She doesn't have to condemn Israel to say things that might let people know that she will be more, I guess, flexible on these issues, because I feel like she's in between a rock and a hard place.
To be fair, the Jewish vote is a majority blue vote and, if she were to come out fully against Israel right now, she's losing a huge amount of people. There’s no way as a candidate that I would ever expect her to come out and be like, “I support Palestinian liberation.” She’s not going to do that. If she used softer language, I don't know if it would be enough to bring all the progressives and leftists back over, but I think it will give her more of a chance. People could actually be like, no, she used this language that's different. She used different language than Biden. She's using different language than Trump. She's showing empathy. She's showing compassion. She's showing a desire to actually uphold some international law standards.
Sofie (Third party, WA): I do think she’s inherently going to lose a lot of voters purely because she is pro-choice. I think that she will also be losing a lot of voters because she's a woman, a woman of color. That is a fact of life, that if you are a woman, you will lose capital regardless of whether or not you're running for president or if you're trying to apply for a job, things will not be in your favor. And that only compounds when you are a woman and of mixed race. I feel like [those factors represent] the democratic vote, so it's mainly the Republican vote she won't get, but then she's trying to compensate for that with maybe getting some of the black Republican vote.
I'm shocked her economic platform doesn't tailor more to Republican interests. Not Republican in terms of what we’re seeing right now, but Republican in terms of what you had with Mitt Romney. I don’t feel like we’re going to win over, the Trump people, but I feel like we’re going to win over the people that [care more about the economy], so I’m kind of surprised that it's not more of her interest.
I think [she should focus] on those types of politics, where you have the middle class American that tends to just vote Republican. I think the best way that politics have been summed up to me by someone that's more apolitical is that Republicans allow you to keep your money and Democrats tend to take your money, but you don't really see it and you have rainbow flags attached to it, so you feel like it should be better. If you hear that rhetoric, you're gonna be inclined to want to be Republican, right? Because it's like, “I wanna keep what's mine, I'm already struggling enough.” So I think that reframing those politics and economic policies to be like, “Oh, no, this is actually going to be a written investment to you,” would aid in that.
Dakota (Third party, PA): Stop appealing to the right. It's, like, actually so insane to me because literally the only reason Biden won is because he was really good at appealing to progressives, right? He was like, “I’m gonna cancel student debt,” “I hear you about Black Lives Matter, I'm gonna address that.” And of course he did none of that, but he recognized that he was in a political situation where Hillary had lost and Trump was unpopular, but he wasn't gonna win unless he appealed to this larger progressive mood that had settled in the country.
And he did, and that's why he won. And we know that student turnout was a major factor, young people turnout was such a major factor of Biden winning. And so it's so interesting to me that Harris seems almost incapable of following that same thing [and instead] feels the need to stand to the center-right and be like, “Well, actually we aren't going to look up to these progressive ideas.”
I think it's because there's this perception that most Americans are more right wing than ever. I think there's an argument to say that's true, obviously, because Trump has shifted the Overton window, but the reality is that the Overton window only exists because [Democrats] are willing to also move right with him. If [they] actually fought against those ideas and said, like, “well, no, I'm actually going to take a strong stance, not against immigration but in support of immigration and the need for immigrants to be in this nation, the rights of undocumented workers, all that stuff,” I think that would appeal to a lot more people who right now are probably not going to vote.
Steph (Harris, TX): I don't really know what she can do now. Yeah, I don't really know. I mean, I feel like a good amount of young people are going to vote for her. A lot of liberals that I've seen are excited to vote for her. (T: What do you think more about her decision to appeal to moderates?) Oh, I hate that. It's not surprising though, because I feel like Democrats, for a long time, have tried to appeal to [Republicans who don’t like Trump and think he doesn’t represent Republican values]. To that, I say that Trump is the best Republican to ever Republican. Yeah. He is the Republican. And most of the Republican party, the RNC supports him, the GOP supports him, so for [Democrats] to hate Trump so much and then for Kamala to step on the stage and be like, “I'm gonna add Republicans to my cabinet,” it’s like, what? It's crazy. Especially because when have you ever heard a Republican say that he's going to put a Democrat in his cabinet? In a perfect world, we could all hold hands together, but the fact is that Republicans are directly against me living.
I also think a lot of people have been asking her questions like, “Oh, what do you think about what's going on in the Middle East?” or “Oh, what about what's happening in Gaza?” And she frames it as a humanitarian crisis. But I feel like when you frame it that way, it's like [saying] there was a flood there. Treating it like it was a natural disaster. When the disaster that's happening is literally bombs being dropped on them every day. So that’s not a humanitarian crisis, I feel like that's intentional. So to frame it in that way is so disingenuous.
Isabelle (Harris, GA): I have another leftist friend, from the Atlanta area. When we talked about it before Biden dropped out, she was like, “are you voting for Biden, girl?” And at that point, I was like, “I don't know yet.” That was back in June. But I'm thinking about, in relation to her, we both live in a state and we're both educated on these topics, and we've seen the impacts of conservative policy. We've seen, as young women, us not being able to access abortions; we've seen Planned Parenthoods closing; we've seen reproductive healthcare decline in Georgia, and we're watching women die from it. That's just conservative policy already on a statewide level, but, imagine if this was federally an obligation for states to adopt, the damage that could do. I just think I would encourage people to actually do their own research, because I think the biggest thing I hear at home is “but everything costs so much,” and it's like, actually none of Trump's policies are going to address. None of the things he will actually do will tangibly fix that, and Kamala Harris does actually have plans to try and bring down the cost of common goods, housing and things like that. I would just encourage people to actually read the policies that both are proposing. Because what really pushed me further left was when I just started putting things side by side. I was researching candidates, putting their platforms on docs, seeing, like, “What is this, and what does this mean down the line?”
Sofie (Third party, WA): I would say, like, power to you. If you feel that you are in a position to vote for something like that, if you are able to adhere to your beliefs at that level, power to you. I won't judge you for that. I'll applaud you.
Sofie (Third party, WA): I would have to look at it by understanding what state protections exist. Washington state, for example, has abortion laws in place to protect people if they choose to terminate a pregnancy. There are protections or non-discrimination policies when it comes to gender rights. I’d have to look at whether those types of politics exist in swing states.
I think that I would want to be familiar with what's happening in my area and make an informed decision. If Trump does win, will I feel safe? And I think that, with that type of a perspective, I would be voting for Kamala. If my safety and the safety of the people that I care about deeply is going to be impacted. It is evident why [people] would want to vote for Kamala. I don’t feel like people should get verbally eviscerated for making that decision. But at the same time, don't let your politics end there.
Isabelle (Harris, GA): That's a really, really good question. I actually don't think I've really thought about it a lot, because in my mind, I'm like, “oh, not voting for Kamala Harris in a swing state, I've seen what that can do.” I’ve seen the damage that can be caused.
To be fair, in my local districts, we basically never have third party candidates running. I live in a heavily, heavily Republican area. You can’t even get a Democrat elected where I live, and there’s no chance you're getting a Socialist candidate elected, but I do try to engage with their campaigns, follow them on Instagram, tell people about them and go to their rallies.
But if I knew my vote for Kamala Harris did not matter and was not going to be a tie breaking vote, which it literally could be in Georgia, I think I probably would have been more engaged with the socialist candidates and the more progressive candidates. If I could have had the opportunity to have those candidates on my ballot, and they weren't disqualified, and I lived in a state where I knew the electoral votes were going to go to Kamala Harris anyway, I think I would probably vote for another more progressive candidate.
Sofie (Third party, WA): I think this idea of third party votes [in swing states] taking away from Democrats and Republicans or, taking away [the chances of] a Democrat winning, I think that it’s valid. I think it is a privileged vote to be voting third party, because the right to bodily autonomy, or if you have an identity that is already being targeted, things like that will only be worsened [by having Trump in office]. I don’t see that getting better under Trump, I see that getting worse.
I don’t see that improving though under Kamala, and I have this fear that the more political apathy that we endure as a society—that we did see under Obama, that we will see under Kamala, and especially when it comes to that group of people, that's like, “I will be affected by politics” but is privileged enough to be okay—the more I feel those people need get a wakeup call. I feel like if Trump wins, it won’t be the end of the world, and there is a weird political gain from that.
But at the same time, the people that are voting for Jill Stein and sacrificing that potential big thing should be organizing locally to support communities as well. I think that we should also prep for this conversation to be like, “What you see at the federal level is not what is going to actually be reaching communities.” It's not a reflection of what will happen in your neighborhood. That will be a reflection of how you are involved at the grassroots level. Having that community resiliency, I think, is what should be the center of a politic, as opposed to, like, a presidential campaign. I also think voting third party on smaller politics is an absolute no brainer. You should be doing that if you are in any way progressive.
Dakota (Third party, PA): It is something I've grappled with a bit, cause obviously I don't want Trump to win. I think we're in such a bad position, but it's hard for me to justify voting for Harris when the reality is that the situation for Pennsylvanians is not going to improve, and it's probably going to get worse under both.
While I think Trump is more of a risk, it's important to recognize what got us here. If Harris does win this election, Trumpism isn't going to die. And there are many Trump supporting candidates running for local office in PA who could win, and who could, no matter who's in office, enact horrible restrictions against trans people. And if Harris is saying, “Well, I'm just going to follow the law,” then, like, fuck Pennsylvania, right? Like, we're just going to have equal restrictions?
There really hasn't been much of a fight back from the Democrats in states that have enacted really serious abortion laws. If those abortion restrictions get worse, I don't think there's gonna be a strong pushback. That doesn't mean I'm like, “society should burn,” or that I want Trump to win, or that I think these things should happen. But these things are already happening. It's too late, it's already happening, and now we need to make it stop. I don't think an effective way to do that is by voting for Harris, even if Pennsylvania is a politically more important swing state based on how the electoral college works.
Sofie (Third party, WA): If you're from a deep red state voting for Kamala, I feel like all progress is feasible progress. But I think that if you’re in a popular place like New York, LA, and a couple other major cities in the U.S., I think people tend to think in [political] trends because those are the cities that [typically] set trends. That is the case where you do observe people voting third party. I do think there’s capital there that could shift the way that we engage the local politics, which could eventually shift the way that we discuss things at a federal level. I don't see that change occurring within four years though. I don't see [it] happening all at once. Change isn't going to happen through electoral politics is my overall point.
But, yeah, you should be voting third party if you are in a position to.
Dakota (Third party, PA): I've been trying to do that a lot, just encouraging people, being like, “Obviously this sucks. The Electoral College is so stupid. But, the reality is that your vote doesn't matter.” But [voting third party], in a sense, can have a significant political showing. We saw that with the Uncommitted Movement, where in Michigan alone, 100,000 people voted uncommitted. That sparked a sort of struggle that is still ongoing today. The power of that is real, it's concrete and within non swing stations, it’s a unique ability to be like, “well, I can kind of just do whatever the fuck I want.”
If you choose to use that vote in this way, where maybe you don’t love everything about Stein, or any third party candidate, but you disagree with Harris, and you want to show that there are other options, I think [third party votes] can be really significant, can make people rethink the way elections work, and it's something I've been trying to convince people to do. And I think a lot of people are generally frustrated with both candidates. That's the vibe I've gotten just by talking to people. People are more than ever really open to the idea of, “okay, maybe we do need to start pushing for some new political entity.”
Steph (Harris, TX): Yeah, I can see why people across America are voting third party, and I understand. I guess I do know a bit less about the third parties. Jill Stein always runs with the Green Party. But actually, I was scrolling across her Twitter, and tell me why Butch Ware, her vice presidential candidate, was like, “biological men shouldn't be playing in women's sports.” What? What? And then what else did he say? Oh, abortion. He said we should ban abortion after some crazy number. I was like, ban abortion? Did y'all not call yourselves socialists?
Sofie (Third party, WA): I'm registered to vote in Washington State, so Claudia is not on my ballot. I will be voting for Jill Stein. It's more of a vote to push for the idea that third party politics can be popular, and she pushes the socialist, take on the Green New Deal that is trying to divest funds from the military industrial complex and reinvest it into mobilizing an economy at a very large scale for renewable energy. Also, regenerative practices for farmers and other agricultural industries [is important] because that's the backbone of the U.S. Basically, I think that the only real shift we're going to see in our politics is when money moves, and she's the only candidate that is pushing for that.
Dakota (Third party, PA): I voted for Jill Stein. I agree with her on a lot of her policies, particularly around the environment and the war—the genocide—currently happening in Gaza, increased conflict in Lebanon and stuff like that. I wouldn't say I agree with her on everything or even most things, but there needs to be some fundamental change that happens, in many ways. I'm more voting for her because of the need to keep providing some road forward and being like, okay, there is support across the nation for someone else than these two candidates.
I think having that, can then lead to getting people together to then organize, to actually protect our rights no matter who's in office, and to fight against the war, the genocide, and any other conflict that emerges in the future. And I think that’s important. It’s a building block.
Steph (Harris, TX): I think at this point, I'm going to vote for Kamala. But I am very frustrated and mad about it. I'm disappointed but not shocked, I guess, by what she's been running on so far. I was like, maybe I'll just vote for abortion or other stuff that she's running on, but I feel like I'm being gaslit every day, actually. That's what it feels like. How do we know that she's actually going to do the thing? And politicians, all the time, never do things they say they're gonna do.
[The person] who I'm most excited to vote against is Ted Cruz. I'm probably more excited about that election, for the Senate seat, than voting for the presidential election. Like, I hate Ted Cruz and what he's done to Texas. And with the Senate seat, I think it was two percentage points off [in 2018]. It was so close, so much closer than the presidential election. I feel like if Texas has the opportunity of being a swing state or turning blue in any aspects, it's definitely going to be with that Senate seat.
