For U.S. voters who don't want to vote for either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump, I have both good and bad news.
The Bad? News
The bad news first: I am not going to run for President myself in 2016. (Yes, I know some may consider that good news and may consider it bad news that I am considering the possibility of running in 2020.) But I honestly think I might be better qualified than Clinton or Trump in several ways, and I hope to improve my qualifications in the next few years.
The Good? News
Personally, I consider it good news that there are numerous alternative candidates running for President of the United States in 2016. Some are running as the official candidates of "minor" parties. Others are running as independent candidates.
You may believe that an independent candidate or a candidate of a minor party has virtually no chance of winning. And that may be true. But--please read on.
The majority of persons eligible to register to vote and to cast votes in the election, will probably not vote at all. I urge these persons to consider voting for another candidate that is on their state's ballot or to consider casting a write-in vote for a candidate not on the ballot. A wide variety of candidates with a big variety of different views are available to choose from. Instead of not voting at all, try to vote for a candidate you feel is better qualified than the two major party candidates.
If all (or a huge percentage) of the voters who would otherwise not vote decide to vote and vote for the same other candidate instead of Clinton or Trump, that candidate could win. Indeed, if all these persons voted for the same candidate, that candidate would win in a landslide.
According to a list on Politics1.com a few hundred different candidates are already running for President this year. More may still decide to run as election day gets closer. According to a Federal Election Commission webpage, as of August 17, 2016 (today), 1,845 candidates had filed a Statement of Candidacy with the Federal Election Commission to run for President. This is a much longer list than the one on Politics1. These two lists indicate there are a lot of alternatives to choose from.
Maybe it would be nice to take time to read a bit more about some, many, or all of the candidates. Who knows? Some little known independent candidate among the few hundred of them running would be your personal favorite. Or maybe you would prefer the nominee of the Prohibition Party, Green Party, Constitution Party of the U.S., Libertarian Party, Reform Party USA, Socialist Party USA, or one of the other parties offering candidates to choose from.
Perhaps most important, I pray for the best candidate to win, whomever it may be. And I hope and pray that we voters (and even those who don't vote) will seek to hold the winning candidate accountable (in the right way) for any wrongdoing they do after elected.
