We are a wasteful culture. Throwing stuff away is built into the massive corporate systems that deliver cheap products to the front porch, grocery store, or the mail room. Wasted Votes are built into our electoral system, too. They fluff up the ballot and make sure that some votes just do not count as much as others.

What’s the point of voting in a single candidate race? Any serious write-in challenger needs to organize and campaign as if they were on the ballot. Perhaps a bit more because they want voters to actually remember and write down their name. That is a big ask. It is also very rare.

I’m not too proud to admit that I often come across races between candidates I have never heard of, for offices I never imagined. I count these as Wasted Votes, too. I take responsibility for not making the time and effort to research every race in the election and for learning about these public offices in the voting booth. My bad. But, into the Wasted Vote pile they go.

Save the precious votes for your conscience and your fears. Don’t recycle those. Unless you can. If your chosen candidate is predicted to win by a comfortable margin. Why not toss that one into the Recycling Bin, too? After all, the more votes you recycle the more Write In space you Occupy, and the more weight your Recycled Votes will add to the ballot. High profile protests are more likely to get more exposure.

Occupy the Write In space of the Wasted Votes with 1 or more words, #hashtags, or candidates. Recycle them into a new kind of Vote.

Share your top 3 to 5 Occupy Write In votes in the comments. Organize with your friends and allies.

Occupy Write In 2016.

#OccupyWriteIn

#BoycottMajorParties

#ArtTemple


Video List

The Total Candidate

Boycott Major Parties 2002