Quoted: Matthew Dickinson on ‘Strategic Voting’

MIDDLEBURY, Vt. — In a New York Times article looking at the ethics of so-called strategic voting–or casting your ballot for someone other than your preferred candidate in order to damage another candidate–Middlebury Professor of Political Science Matt Dickinson says that the ethics of the practice are in the eyes of the beholder.

“Is it ethical?” he said. “For those who believe Trump would be a disaster for the Republican Party, and for the nation, I suspect the answer is, ‘Hell, yes!’”

Dickinson also notes that the efficacy of such voting is questionable. “Fortunately, (at least for those who oppose strategic voting), efforts to game the system are fraught with uncertainty, in large part because of the difficulty of coordinating the efforts of many voters toward a single objective,” he said.

Read “Is It O.K. if Your Vote Is a Lie? Ask a Canadian,” published on March 30, 2016.