For Eric Graf, his vote for United States presidential Green Party candidate Jill Stein is not a protest vote as some have recently claimed.

Graf has been helping the Syracuse Green Party shift its focus this election season from local races in Syracuse to the party’s state and national candidates. The key reason is that if Stein wins 5 percent of the popular vote on Tuesday, the Federal Election Commission will give about $10 million to the Green Party for its next presidential campaign.

“If we live in a state where Clinton is going to kill Trump by 20 points, several thousand people going out voting for Jill Stein is not going to elect Trump,” Graf said. “It’s not a protest vote, because we’re voting for something and not against something.”

In New York state, there isn’t much to lose for those against Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump by voting for a third party candidate, Graf said. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton has a 99.7 percent chance to win all of New York’s 29 electoral votes Tuesday, according to FiveThirtyEight.

Graf said if he, who has also been helping run Stein’s Facebook page, lived in a swing state where the stakes were higher, the decision to vote for Stein would be tougher, adding that he would probably vote for Clinton.

“I do feel Hillary Clinton as being the lesser evil,” Graf said.

The final poll of 2016 by NBC News and the Wall Street Journal conducted Nov. 3–5 showed Stein with only 2 percent of the national vote. Gary Johnson, the libertarian candidate, polled at 6 percent.

Stein’s key platform proposals on her website focus on environmentalism through her Green New Deal plan and electoral reform by advocating for ranked-choice voting. In the Green New Deal, Stein calls for the transition of the U.S. energy system and economy to completely rely on clean, renewable energy by 2030, and the ridding of fossil fuels, gas extracted through fracking and nuclear power.

Clinton seeks to cut greenhouse emissions by more than 80 percent in the U.S. by 2050. Former New York Gov. Green Party candidate Howie Hawkins said Clinton’s goals to save the climate are coming too late.

“If you do the numbers, that’s too late,” Hawkins said. “The Greens are the only ones with the real solution there.”

While the name of the Green Party is a metaphor for the environment, it also represents economic justice, Hawkins added. The solution for climate change, he said, must also create jobs, which he said the Green Party addresses.

Despite Stein’s low polling numbers, Hawkins said it’s important to gain credibility for the party’s presidential candidate so more local candidates of the party will be taken seriously moving forward.

Hawkins said he is considering running as a member of the Green Party in the Syracuse mayoral race in 2017. In his mayoral race, Hawkins would likely focus on the environmental proposal to replace the National Grid with public power in Syracuse, he said.

He added that he doesn’t think Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner is currently doing enough for the environment.

“When stuff comes up they’ll give it a little lip service, but there’s no plan,” Hawkins said. “There’s no plan. The city under the mayor got the sustainable Syracuse stuff but they’re not doing anything aggressive.”

Mary House, a Stein supporter who helped lead the campaign for Stein in Syracuse this year, said she sees Clinton and Trump being equally bad for marginalized communities.

House has been involved with the Green Party for five years and helped register 30 voters during the Stein campaign in Syracuse.

She also helped organize phone bank calls every Thursday and would stand out every Friday between 5 and 6 p.m. holding Stein signs between West Fayette and West Genesee streets.

And though Stein’s polling numbers are small compared to her competitors, House found the support she rallied in Syracuse to be hopeful.

No matter who wins Tuesday, Graf said it’s important for voters to keep pressing on anti-war and environmental efforts after the elections.

“One thing we need to make sure that we don’t do is to think that electing Clinton is the end,” he said.

Published on November 8, 2016 at 1:21 am

Contact Anna: almerod@syr.edu