http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_third_party_and_independent_presidential_candidates,_2012

Many people look at voting for third parties as a ‘wasted vote’.  I would like to challenge that notion.  It’s not a wasted vote to vote for a third party.  It’s a wasted vote to vote for one of the two main parties when you don’t believe in the candidate that’s running.

It’s important to vote for the candidate you most believe in even if you know they will certainly lose.  It signals to your political allies that you do indeed exist and that there are people out there they can work with.  In New York, electoral fusion gives third parties a leg up that they don’t have in many other states.

But, as ever, elections are less about voting than they are all the participation that leads up to an election.