I’m Wasting My Vote Today. Here’s Why.
The polls open in my state in a few hours here in the U.S.
I plan to walk in, collect my ballot, and throw away my vote.
Here’s my thought process: I looked at all the candidates, I found the one in each race whose views align most closely with my own, and I’m voting for those candidates. Crazy, right?
The issue is that, for at least one of those races, I’m wasting my vote.
But it’s worth it, and here’s why.
As a Catholic, I don’t fit neatly into either major political party in America. (Weird how a 2,000-year-old church doesn’t map nicely onto a 200-year-old political system, huh?) Both have things in their platforms that are rejections of or abuses of human rights and dignity. So I don’t have a home in either party, not truly. My home is the Church, but I do take my civic duties seriously. I got called up for a term of jury duty this week for the first time; many of my friends and acquaintances are giving advice for how to get out of it, or offering condolences as if I were the one being sentenced. I’m not thrilled about sitting in judgment over my fellow citizens, but I’m not trying to get out of it either — it’s part of my rights and responsibilities as a citizen of our country.
I’m a firm believer that I have a civic obligation to vote: people died so that I’d have this right, and it’d be an insult to their memory and sacrifice to throw up my hands and go “meh.” Not only that, but I do think that each vote matters. Sure, it might not really make a difference whether a candidate wins by a 10-point margin versus a two-point margin, not in the final poll result. But that doesn’t mean that those votes are wasted. Every vote sends a message, if nothing else. If you’re on the fence on whether it’s worth it to go vote today, go read this article. Isaac Saul says it better than I can.
I’m actively voting for someone who won’t win.
In one of those races, I’m voting Independent.
Clutch your pearls, I know.
But I’m not completely crazy. Setting aside the fact that something like 45% of Americans consider themselves Independent (as opposed to the 25% or so each who are Democrat or Republican) … actually, let’s not set that aside. That’s important: Almost half the country is dissatisfied enough with both parties that they don’t want to formally associate with either. That’s huge. Okay, now we can set it aside. That aside, I feel like it’s not outlandish simply to look at the candidates, see which best aligns with my priorities, and choose that one.
“But if Candidate A loses and Candidate B wins, then it’s curtains for democracy in America!! You’re taking votes away from a candidate that’s good enough! You don’t want Them to win, do you? They’re awful! If They get elected (or re-elected), they’ll destroy the country! You gotta watch out for Them …”
Get Maximilian Hart’s stories in your inbox
Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.
I saw a sign that said “Save America! Vote <insert political party here>”-the particular party doesn’t matter, since it could have been either one, really.
That’s the same line of thinking that’s led to some of the greatest atrocities we humans have ever committed.
The fact of the matter is that the vast majority of those 45% of Americans who dislike both parties will vote for one of them today, and again in a couple years. The lesser of two evils, they’ll say. And maybe they’re right.
But for me, that’s a vote fueled by fear.
I don’t want to vote based on fear.
I want vote for the person I think would do the best job if they’re elected, simple as that. Sometimes that’s been a Republican. Sometimes it’s been a Democrat. Sometimes it’s been an Independent. In every election in which I’ve been privileged to vote, I’ve voted fully in line with that criteria, fearmongering be damned.
I do have to recognize that not every “lesser of two evils” vote is based on fear. It’s a legitimate decision-making framework. And preventing a great evil is indeed an acceptable reason to choose to vote for a lesser one; considering serious consequences isn’t always the same as giving in to fear. It’s a careful discernment each time, or should be.
But for me, at least this cycle, I only see the divide between the parties widening, the demonization of the other side increasing, and that road doesn’t end well.
If every Independent in America stuck to their party-disliking guns and voted Independent today and two years from now, the two major parties combined would get only 55% of the votes.
Yeah, one of the two party candidates would still probably win. But it would show both parties that literally almost half the country doesn’t like what either of ’em has been up to.
It would show that we choose to vote for the candidate we like the most, not settle for the candidate we hate (or fear) the least.
It would show that we, the people of the United States of America, refuse to be ruled by the tyranny of fear.
If that’s wasting my vote, then so be it.
This is a subject departure from my usual fare of short fiction & essays on Catholicism. If it bothered you, don’t worry — politics will likely disappear for a couple years here. If you absolutely loved it and want to subscribe for more political essays, you’ll be sorely disappointed, but you should subscribe anyway! [Originally published at https://maximilianhart.substack.com on November 3, 2026.]
