About two days before Election Day, several peers of mine and I were bombarded with assaults from others for the decision to vote third party. “A vote for third party is a vote for Trump.” “Are you willing to risk a Trump victory?” “Stop playing around; the time for emotions is over.” Let’s dismantle all of these weak attacks.

First of all, did third party voters actually help Trump win? The brief answer is absolutely not; not even close actually. The big two third party candidates were Gary Johnson of the Libertarian party and Jill Stein of the Green Party. Gary Johnson managed to earn a little more than 3% of the popular vote across all states. Jill Stein obtained just under 1% of the total popular vote. This is just to give the scope of how many people actually voted third party, as the popular vote does not ensure victory. Hillary Clinton obtained the majority of the popular vote, beating Trump by about 0.4%. This is because the Electoral College is what determines how many votes they earn.

The Electoral College functions by giving a set number of electors to each state. The number of electors is based on the number of representatives in your state (which is based on state population) plus the two senators. Your vote for a candidate is what determines these electors, and thus the popular vote is not indicative of victory. As a third party voter who lives in New York, my vote for Jill Stein in such a high population state had minimal effects on the outcome; as a matter a fact Hillary swept the state of New York by a colossal margin, yet many of my peers and I were assailed by people who thought we were the cause of Hillary’s defeat. Perhaps if a major lot of third party voters in a swing state (states that are very split and could potentially be a victory for either candidate) decided to vote for Clinton it may have a made a difference. However, even in a major swing state like Florida where Trump won by about 1%, garnering third party votes wouldn’t have made a difference. This is because Jill Stein, the more progressive of the two third party candidates, only garnered 0.7% of the state’s popular vote, still not enough to help Clinton win. Johnson earned about 2% in the state, but most of his supporters are more on the conservative end, and disagree on a fundamental level with Hillary, a Democrat. Thus, Johnson’s supporters should not even be considered in this matter, as the odds of them supporting Hillary were slim to nonexistent. The end result is that even with the backing of moderate and progressive third party voters, Hillary was still going to lose the swing state.

That’s enough with math, though. The reason Hillary lost dates back to the primary season and even prior, when Senator Sanders of Vermont was competing to become the Democratic nominee. Hillary lost because she lost a significant amount of voters in the process of cheating to defeat Senator Sander, and purposely blinding the American public of his existence. She lost because she worked with the Democratic National Committee to never give the people a choice in who they wanted. Throughout the primary season there were countless accounts of election fraud, and Hillary supporters rigging machines and tossing out vote for Bernie to stop his movement. This accounts for the loss of many votes for Bernie Sanders, but this is still only a small portion of what cause him to lose. The biggest cause of his loss in the primaries was the forceful use of corrupt mainstream media (CNN being the biggest culprit) to avoid talking about him or showing him. Almost none of his speeches were ever shown, empty podiums replaced moments when Bernie was speaking live, news anchors blatantly lied about statistics and stereotypes were used to alienate supporters of the Democratic socialist. All this accumulated to the blinding of laymen voters who generally agree with his ideas and policies but never had the opportunity to learn about him in an unbiased light or any light at all.

The DNC and elites of the Democratic Party colluded to make sure Clinton was the nominee. This was despite the facts that Sanders had a 15 point lead above Trump in the polls while Hillary was struggling. This was despite Sanders doing much more favorably in many of the swing states that Clinton ended up losing in within the general election. This was despite knowing that Americans were frustrated with establishment politics and a lack of transparency, and that they wanted a populist- a leader that spoke fought for the people above all else. This was despite knowing that Bernie Sanders filled stadiums at record-breaking numbers at his rallies whereas Clinton could barely fill a few seats at hers. The DNC’s responsibility is to represent the people and ensure that their nominee will ensure a democratic president. They decided against common sense repeatedly for the sake of money and greed, and thus they lost voters.

They lost voters that no longer had a candidate that opposed war, corruption, and greed. They lost voters who were frustrated and fell for the fallacy of the Trump narrative that he is against the establishment. They lost me and countless others who would never vote for someone who consciously stole my vote, my voice, and democracy. The Democratic Party’s decision demoralized the vast amount of independents and many others who decided to not vote for anyone at all. The DNC and Clinton made themselves lose. “But Clinton would still be better than Trump, so vote for her.” That’s paraphrasing what I’ve heard countless people tell me. Clinton is vastly superior to Trump. That is without question. That does not make her a strong candidate; as a matter a fact, she may be the weakest Democratic candidate in recent history.

I am a firm believer in fighting for what I believe in. Would I risk a Trump Presidency? Yes I would. To reiterate, I hate everything Trump stands for and would vastly prefer Clinton. Nevertheless, she stole my voice and thus lost my vote. It is my right, and I believe every person’s right to vote for the candidate that represents their values, no matter the odds. It’s all for nothing? Perhaps not. Third party candidates that earn 5% of the popular vote gain access to federal funding and equal ballot access. This is a vital step in fixing the dominant 2-party system that led us down this route of defeat. It takes small steps, but with such a progressive and open-minded generation like ours, I believe moving forward we can make that a reality- one where any candidate can have their voices heard no matter what party the belong to. So no, my vote was not cast for nothing. It was a vote for the values I believe in and an incremental step towards a better tomorrow. My vote is not something you can pry away through fear; give me a reason to vote for you besides “I’m the best chance at defeating Trump,” even when you weren’t.

I am not happy with the outcome of this election, and my frustration is difficult to describe, but relatable to many I’m sure. It will be a difficult four years to come, but I believe this is a turning point, one which we can come together to fight hate and promote unity. This is our chance to form a truly progressive agenda and rebuild from the ground up to mold a better future. Clinton would have been a safer bet and a better president, but my vote is my voice. They stole that from countless people including myself, and I refuse to vote for a future that endangers our fundamental rights and promotes a deeper dive into oligarchy. Not only that, but the math doesn’t add up even if people like myself decided to vote for Clinton. Therefore, people need to stop assailing third party voters for practicing their rights, voting for what they believe in, and making an attempt to break a system that resulted in this catastrophe. Voice your rage at the root of the problem, never the people who tried to fight their own good fight, however small it may currently be.