Politics suck. I know this and yet I keep bringing them up. There’s a part of me that can’t let it go. Maybe it’s because of the household I was raised in or the people I hang out with, but no matter what, they’re frustrating.

I’ve always been interested in them and have watched from afar, but once I realized I’d be voting in this year’s election, I started to research.

After months and months of debating in my mind (and with many of my peers) I’ve decided to throw away my vote. That’s right, I’m voting for Gary Johnson.

I cannot stand Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump. And yeah, I get it, nobody really likes them. People just cringe and pick the lesser of two evils. We shouldn’t have to do that.

A couple of weeks ago, I made a post on Facebook about it:

And surprisingly, I got a lot of positive comments supporting me and telling me to follow my heart.

While that’s all fun and good, I also received a slew of texts and responses from close friends telling me what a waste my vote was.

“You do know you’re practically voting for Trump/Clinton, right?”

“Why are you even voting?”

“It isn’t the time for a protest vote!”

…What?

1) I’m not voting for Trump or Clinton unless I physically mark Trump's or Clinton's name.

2) I’m a citizen of the United State and I want change.

3) literally no time is the time for a protest vote – and maybe the change has to come from inside the political system, but you know what’s not going to help? Voting for someone that is the exact same type of person we’ve been electing for as long as we’ve been able to vote.

Another one that fascinates me is, “Gary Johnson (or other third-party candidates) is never going to win. That’s not how it works.”

We, as millennials, are known for our passion for challenging the status quo or changing something that isn't right in society. What I and many others believe, is that it isn’t right that we have to choose between only two candidates. Two candidates that, during this election, in particular, are less than ideal. Gary Johnson doesn’t have a chance because no one thinks he does, so they won’t vote for him, thus throwing us in a vicious cycle with another democrat or republican for the next 4 years.

Quite frankly, I’d rather have a President that doesn’t know what Aleppo is than one that can’t be trusted or a walking orange that demeans women.