In an attempt to bring the topic back to your original post I will give my opinion of your original question.
I had a politics professor in college who said that not voting was a waste. This was in the context of people expressing disgust with the current system and not wanting to choose between current democrats or republicans. There seemed to be a belief that not voting was a form of protest and distaste of the current system/choices.
The professor disagreed and said a better form of protest was to go to the voting booth and turn in a blank ballot. She said that this showed that you were willing to vote and take the time to visit your polling place but still not happy with your choices.
After the 2000 presidential election (Bush v. Gore) there was a lot of attention on which ballots “count” and I seem to remember that blank ballots are just thrown out. They do not keep track of the number of people who turn in blank ballots. However, I’m not certain about this.
This made me think that there are only two options. One is to get so many people to turn in blank ballots that they can’t be ignored. The other is to vote for a third party candidate.
I personally have started voting for third party candidates. If something like the Ross Perot effect happens, I don’t care. If Clinton wins because people voted for Perot instead of Bush and that bothers me, then I should have voted for Bush.
Another possibility is to vote only for nonpartisan offices. However, I would be afraid that my whole ballot would be thrown out if it isn’t complete. I don’t know if this is true. Does anyone else know?
edit – BTW – the politics professor was from Italy. Maybe their voting/ballot counting system is different.
