Votes in red or blue states don’t really matter thanks to the anti-democratic electoral college system. Sure, go vote, but it’s only the swing states that really determine the results of a Presidential election. For 2024, those swing states are:
- North Carolina
- Georgia
- Arizona
- Michigan
- Wisconsin
- Pennsylvania
If you’re in one of those swing states, you should fully think through the practical impact of your vote. I’m not saying who you should vote for or even if you should vote — I’m just saying your vote really matters if you live in a swing state, and you should give this decision the attention it deserves.
But for the rest of us (and by “us” I mean the left), there is no reason to play this idiotic electoral college game according to mainstream rules. You can vote for whoever you want because it doesn’t matter. You can vote for a socialist. You can vote for the libertarian. You can vote for your dog. You can vote for yourself. It’s freeing, I think. I do recommend that you show up, though. It’s a lot more powerful to metaphorically write “fuck you” (you could do this literally as a write-in candidate if you want) on the ballot than to just not show up. Not showing up communicates apathy, and they’re fine with apathy.
I’m not 100% sure that I even want Biden to win, but since I’m not in a swing state, I don’t need to think all the way through it. But, if Biden winning is the best thing, then it does seem like it would be really good if Biden won the electoral college but also got very little of the popular vote. Seems like that would accurately communicate to the Democratic party that they need to stop choosing these neoliberal, quite-possibly-fascist candidates if they want to remain relevant.
The flip side of this is that Biden needs to be physically going to those 6 swing states and really kissing the asses of the voters there so he doesn’t pull an HRC and lose the electoral vote. If he loses the electoral vote, it will be his fault for being a terrible candidate — it will not be the voters’ fault for not voting for the terrible candidate.
In terms of who to choose for your protest vote, let me suggest Claudia De la Cruz. She is running with Karina Garcia as her VP as the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) candidates.
Claudia De la Cruz is a mother, popular educator and theologian born in the South Bronx who has spent her life organizing for justice for working people at home and to end U.S. empire abroad. Karina Garcia is a Chicana organizer, popular educator and mother who has spent her entire adult life fighting for the rights of immigrant workers, women and the whole working class.
Go ahead and explore the details if you like; just remember, it isn’t possible for them to win an election in the USA so if you’ve got some small nitpick about their politics, it absolutely does not matter.