Third Parties Often Become ‘Third-Wheelers’ In a Two-Party Democracy

A ballot box in the lobby of Hunter College, one of the many locations where New York City residents voted on Election Day. (Source: Aarsh Chauhan)

For many, Nov. 5 presented an opportunity to vote for the first time. However, in a deeply polarized political climate, many felt they should have alternative choices on the ballot. Phill Campbell, a senior at Hunter College, is one of the many opponents of a two-party electoral system. 

“Most of the people know that Vice President Harris and President-elect Trump were on the ballot, but most people do not know that in the majority of states, we had runners,” Campbell says.

As a Bronx native, Campbell supported Claudia de la Cruz, a nominee from the Party of Socialism and Liberation (PSL), one of the few independent parties that often find themselves lost in a web of a dual-party system, a trend that dates back to America’s first election.

In an election cycle dominated by the campaigns of Vice President Kamala Harris and the reelection bid of now President-elect Donald Trump, Ms. Cruz only made up to the ballots in 19 states, with her campaign accusing the Democratic Party of blocking vote counts in Georgia.

However, Ms. Cruz is no exception when it comes to navigating ballot access throughout all 50 states. Other candidates running on a third-party or independent platform face a similar set of legal and bureaucratic obstacles while getting their names on ballots. For instance, candidates such as Jill Stein and Cornell West faced parallel challenges while getting their names registered on state ballots. 

“They harassed us with expensive lawsuits to kick us off the ballot, marginalized and smeared us in the media, posted jobs seeking people to sabotage our campaign, and even launched attack ads against us,” said Ms. Stein in a post-election press release.

Independent candidate Cornell West also faced difficulty accessing the ballot, especially in the swing state of Pennsylvania. Supreme Court Chief Justice Samuel Alito denied Mr. West’s last-minute effort to make election officials tell voters they could write in his name on the ballot.

According to the Federal Election Commission, ballot access falls under the domain of state laws. 

However, the discontent of third-party candidates in a duopolistic political arena is not a new phenomenon. When pitted against the mainstream Democratic and Republican parties, independent and third-party candidates have always underperformed.

Ever since the nation’s first official election, the presidential race has barely been able to escape a two-party domination. Although George Washington managed to win the first two elections with absolute margins, he remains the only president till the present day to win a majority of electoral votes as an independent candidate.

“We have this party system since the founding of the country, and these systems for most of the part, have included two major parties,” says Charles Tien, a political science professor at CUNY Graduate Center.

The trend continues to play in modern-day history. Although third-party or independent candidates manage to gain popular votes, only a few have managed to win electoral votes. The last candidate to win a considerable share of popular and electorate vote after Washington was Theodore Roosevelt, a former Republican who in 1912 sought reelection from Progressive Party. 

“Third parties have not done very well throughout American history and we have a long history of two parties competing for votes and party identification,” Tien says.

Although independent candidates rarely win electoral votes, the last few decades saw third-party nominees amassing millions in popular votes despite facing obstacles accessing the ballots or appearing on exit polls.

For instance, the Libertarian Party nominee Ross Perot in 1992 won more than 19 million popular votes, followed by Gary Johnson’s 2016 bid that earned him approximately 4 million in popular votes.

Nevertheless, the performance of independent and third-party candidates has declined in the last few election cycles. Besides finding themselves at loggerheads with Democrats and Republicans to get on state ballots, some candidates have also resorted to switching allegiances to mainstream parties to mobilize their chances in presidential races. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders’ 2016 run is a popular account. In a 2015 email to the New York Times, Mr. Sanders noted that “big financial challenges” led him to continue the presidential race as a Democrat. 

“No one should have to rely on the two parties to run for president. If individuals or other parties have ideological differences, they should be able to run up their campaign,” adds Campbell.

A Pew Research Center report published in September reveals that voters prioritized the economy, health care, supreme court appointments, foreign policy, and violent crime this election whereas issues such as climate change, abortion, and racial and ethnic inequality took a backseat this election.

Tien said he believes that regardless of topics dominating voters’ agendas, third-party and independent candidates do not always take into consideration issues that are mainstream. 

“Third-party candidates usually run on specific, niche issues. So there may be an environmental candidate, and you may have voters who are voting solely on that issue,” he said. 

Foreign Policy issues such as the U.S. support to Israel and the toll of civilian casualties in Gaza defined the campaign agenda of candidates such as Green Party’s Jill Stein (Source: Aarsh Chauhan)

Third-party and independent candidates, contrary to speculations of political pundits.  failed to play the role of a “spoiler” in a clash between Vice President Harris and President-elect Trump. None of the candidates succeeded in continuing the trend of crossing millions of popular votes that started with the run of Gary Johnson in 2012. Such a trend coincides with voter turnout in the United States this year, which compared to other democratic countries remained relatively low.

Professor Tien disagrees, offering an alternative explanation.

“I don’t think turnout is linked to the success of third-party candidates. I think this year, although turnout results have yet to be fully determined, it seems that Democrats turned out in fewer numbers,”  he says.

An analysis of election results so far corroborates professor Tien’s remarks. A majority of states, including Democratic strongholds, experienced a shift toward the Republican Party. 

New York City remains one such stronghold. Although Vice President successfully maintained a streak of Democratic win, the city simultaneously recorded the lowest share of Democratic vote share in decades.

Meanwhile, residents such as Campbell were unable to find candidates of their preference such as Claudia de la Cruz, who despite being a Bronx native failed to appear on the state ballot.

“That is not because of lack of moral judgment by the party, but rather it is based on the fact that the legal, judicial, and political systems of the United States and New York specifically, have made it impossible for a third party to get on the ballot in New York,” says Campbell while expressing his disappointment.

To become eligible for the ballot in New York, candidates need to either seek a political party’s nomination, run as independent by getting at least 45,000 signatures on a petition, or opt as a write-in candidate.

“No one should have to rely on the two parties to run for president. If individuals or other parties have ideological differences, they should be able to run up their campaign,” adds Campbell.