Opinion: Your vote doesn’t belong to anyone, so go ahead and vote for Jill Stein or Gary Johnson

To the editor: Many people voting for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump are simply voting against his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton. Now Henry Weinstein, feeling bad about his 1968 write-in vote, is using similar logic to guilt third-party voters toward Clinton. (“In the Nixon-Humphrey election, I refused to vote for the ‘lesser of two evils.’ That was a mistake,” Opinion, Oct. 21)

Yes, Trump is terrible. But Clinton, with her Senate vote to invade Iraq and her subsequent dissembling about it, failed this most deadly leadership test. Accordingly, I feel that Green Party candidate Jill Stein, unlike Clinton, will not generate more coffins for our soldiers.

If Trump wins, Weinstein should turn his scorn on those who voted for Trump, not the Stein voters. Your vote does not belong to anyone. You do your duty and choose the most qualified candidate on the ballot, no write-in required.

Perhaps Weinstein would prefer a moratorium on third parties. I say we need them now more than ever.

Tim Clark, Los Angeles

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To the editor: Weinstein’s piece is a welcome reminder of how voting for third-party candidates can produce regrettable consequences.

As a UCLA graduate student in the 1980s, I and many of my friends voted for Ralph Nader, not so much because we agreed with his utopian politics, but mostly because knowing that he didn’t stand a chance to win, we thought that at least we could contribute to the 5% necessary to ensure his eligibility for the Presidential Election Campaign Fund’s grant in the next electoral cycle.

It wasn’t until 2000 that I came to a full understanding of the so-called vote-splitting effect that probably brought the victory of George W. Bush over Vice President Al Gore, which was the most undesirable outcome for Nader’s supporters.

With so much at stake in this election, voting for a third-party nominee is irresponsible.

Berta Graciano-Buchman, Beverly Hills

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To the editor: I was traveling in Europe, the U.S. and Canada for much of 2000 and did not bother to send in an absentee ballot. I did not think it would really matter.

Most Americans did not know much about George W. Bush (myself included). The world knows a lot about him now.

I spent 16 months in Iraq with the Army. I never found any weapons of mass destruction. To this day (as we retake Mosul, 13 years after the invasion), I wonder how my single vote could have affected the world we live in today.

John Kirkland, Oceanside

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