On today’s episode of Hear Me Out: nobody wins with two parties.

A competitive presidential election draws closer every day – and as ever, every vote will count. So is it fair to accuse third-party voters of wasting a vote, as often happens? Or are third-party candidates actually preserving what little we have left of a competitive democracy? 

Bernard Tamas of Valdosta State University joins us to make the case for the power of the third party.

If you have thoughts you want to share, or an idea for a topic we should tackle, you can email the show: hearmeout@slate.com

Podcast production by Maura Currie.

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