This year鈥檚 presidential election pits two major party nominees with historically low unfavorable ratings against one another. This seems to be creating more than a little interest in third and minor party candidates. Now an anti-Donald Trump group is trying to create what they think is a win-win system for Ohio voters frustrated with their choices.
Craig Clawson of Gahanna, a suburb of Columbus, is facing a dilemma this election season.
鈥淚 was a lifelong Democrat until this until this year鈥檚 primaries.鈥�
If you were to ask Clawson a year ago who he would vote for in November鈥檚 presidential election, he would鈥檝e been likely to tell you the Democratic nominee.
鈥淚鈥檝e donated money to their cause. I鈥檝e volunteered for the Obama campaign both the first and second one. I鈥檝e sung their praises on social media.鈥�
But all that changed this year.
Clawson is a Bernie Sanders supporter and he says the leaked DNC emails show that the party unfairly favored Hillary Clinton over Sanders in the primary.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 feel like she is the right choice for this election.鈥�
But as much as Clawson dislikes Clinton, he says the thought of Donald Trump as president is much worse. He wants to vote for the Green Party鈥檚 Jill Stein but believes his vote in the all-important swing state of Ohio should do more in defeating Trump.
So, he鈥檚 trading his vote.
鈥淭his is a way for me to sort of justify my vote for Clinton. I would鈥檝e voted for Stein but now I know somebody else is going to vote for Stein and I can vote for Clinton in a place where a Clinton vote means the most.鈥�
Clawson is swapping votes through a project called .
Here鈥檚 how it works. A 3rd Party Voter in a swing state, who fears a Trump victory, can trade their vote with a Clinton voter in a state that already seems to be polling in her favor or one she鈥檚 going to lose anyway. Clawson鈥檚 trading with a voter from South Carolina.
This is the pitch in an ad from TrumpTraders.org.
Ad: 鈥淵ou鈥檝e decided to vote for a 3rd Party but we can all agree that the worst outcome would be.鈥�
Trump: 鈥淚 am your voice.鈥�
The super PAC Republicans for Clinton 2016 is the group behind Trump Traders. So it鈥檚 pretty clear that they鈥檙e hoping the end result of this project will be a Clinton victory. But, as Trump Traders鈥� Chris Talbot explains, this can encourage more votes for both Stein and Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson by doing it a different way.
鈥淪omewhere around half a million to 600,000 voters in Ohio are telling pollsters that they are going to support a third party candidate those votes for Gary Johnson and Jill Stein in Ohio they basically amount to half a vote for Donald Trump.鈥�
That statement right there is exactly what fires up 3rd Party campaign staffers such as Lindsay Workman. Workman is the national grassroots director for the Johnson campaign, and she鈥檚 been battling that narrative that a vote for Johnson or Stein helps Trump.
鈥淚 think that that鈥檚 deplorable -- to use a Hillary Clinton word 鈥� way of operating politics and I just hope that people realize that and stand up and vote for who they believe in because on November 9, regardless of the outcome of the election you鈥檒l be able to say 鈥榳ell I stood up for what I believed in and I voted for the person that I believe should run this country.鈥�
As for vote swapping itself, Workman says the campaign is not a fan of the idea but they鈥檙e also not seeing groups like Trump Traders as some sort of competition. In fact, they鈥檙e promotional efforts, according to Workman, seems to be generating more name recognition for people like Johnson.
Neither the Clinton campaign nor the Trump campaign wanted to comment on vote trading. However, Trump鈥檚 Ohio spokesperson did suggest we contact top election officials with the Secretary of State鈥檚 office.
So we did. Press Secretary Josh Eck says vote trading is completely legal under one condition 鈥� there can be no money involved.
鈥淎s long as you鈥檙e not being compensated for your vote then you can come to the conclusion for who you鈥檙e going to vote for however you鈥檇 like.鈥�
A similar effort was deemed legal in 2000 with a group called Nader Traders, where Ralph Nader voters swapped with Al Gore supporters. Talbot with Trump Traders assures that they鈥檙e following every bit of the law. In fact, there are no measures in place to even guarantee a person will vote the way they say they will, instead it鈥檚 all on the honor code system.
There are now more than 10,000 Trump Traders so far and the group plans to keep making a major push through mass text messaging and social media, especially targeting voters under 30.
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