We Cannot Afford to Play Games:

Why Voting for Third-Party Candidates in 2024 is Dangerous

Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

"Our political leaders will know our priorities only if we tell them, again and again, and if those priorities begin to show up in the polls." - Peggy Noonan

The 2024 U.S. presidential election looms large, and once again, the question of third-party candidates has re-entered the national conversation. While I wholeheartedly believe in expanding our political system beyond a two-party structure, how we approach this in 2024 has real, life-threatening consequences. This election is not just about who occupies the White House for the next four years—it’s about survival.

I would love to live in a country with more than two options, where qualified, compassionate, and well-informed individuals lead our nation. I support a system that doesn’t revolve around parties but where people run on their ideas, policies, and integrity. Theoretically, a third-party system could break the binary stranglehold of Democrats and Republicans, injecting new perspectives into our political landscape.

But what we are seeing in 2024 is not that. Jill Stein, once again, emerges from her political hiatus, as if the only time to engage in the American political process is during a presidential election. Where is she during the years in between, when the real work of building a party, developing a platform, and mobilizing voters needs to happen? If she genuinely wanted to build the Green Party or any party, she’d be running for office at all levels—city council, Senate, Congress. She’d show up year-round at protests, legislative hearings, and community meetings. Instead, Stein surfaces every four years to run at the top of the ticket, as if the presidential race is the only space where her voice matters.