[SEQ RERUN] Stop Voting For Nincompoops

MinibearRex

Today's post, Stop Voting For Nincompoops was originally published on 02 January 2008. A summary (taken from the LW wiki):

Many people try to vote "strategically", by considering which candidate is more "electable". One of the most important factors in whether someone is "electable" is whether they have received attention from the media and the support of one of the two major parties. Naturally, those organizations put considerable thought into who is electable in making their decision. Ultimately, all arguments for "strategic voting" tend to fall apart. The voters themselves get so little say in why the next president is that the best we can do is just to not vote for nincompoops.

Discuss the post here (rather than in the comments to the original post).

This post is part of the Rerunning the Sequences series, where we'll be going through Eliezer Yudkowsky's old posts in order so that people who are interested can (re-)read and discuss them. The previous post was The American System and Misleading Labels, and you can use the sequence_reruns tag or rss feed to follow the rest of the series.

Sequence reruns are a community-driven effort. You can participate by re-reading the sequence post, discussing it here, posting the next day's sequence reruns post, or summarizing forthcoming articles on the wiki. Go here for more details, or to have meta discussions about the Rerunning the Sequences series.

Today's post, Stop Voting For Nincompoops was originally published on 02 January 2008. A summary (taken from the LW wiki):

Many people try to vote "strategically", by considering which candidate is more "electable". One of the most important factors in whether someone is "electable" is whether they have received attention from the media and the support of one of the two major parties. Naturally, those organizations put considerable thought into who is electable in making their decision. Ultimately, all arguments for "strategic voting" tend to fall apart. The voters themselves get so little say in why the next president is that the best we can do is just to not vote for nincompoops.

Additional factors to consider, especially for legislative seats rather than presidential:

1) Voting for a third party can increase its recognition and power even without giving it a chance to win

2) If you are in a 'safe district' and would be more aligned with the winning lizard, voting for a 3rd party drags down your lizard's vote margin, making it feel the threat of accountability more credibly.

3) If you are in a 'safe district' and would be more aligned with the losing lizard, voting for a 3rd party may actually be more likely to change the election, as the losing lizard probably has a negative aura effect going on

4) If you are in a 'safe district', whichever side, voting for a 3rd party can limit the effectiveness of Gerrymandering, by limiting the information about true lizard preference (in the event you ever want to pick between the lizards rather than going for a 3rd party)

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[SEQ RERUN] Stop Voting For Nincompoops

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[SEQ RERUN] Stop Voting For Nincompoops

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