by PLASMAchicken December 19, 2021
by El_Scorcho August 28, 2003
A political strategy to get voters to lose focus on the most appropriate and potentially successful candidate that is most likely to achieve their political goals. and represent them in a political body. Typically voter digression is used in a general election where the strategy is to get the voter to vote for a candidate that will siphon off votes or create voter apathy. The strategist can throw an election even from a popular candidate by taking a few votes away from the most popular candidate or one which can win a plurality. In a presidential election this is even easier since we don't elect the president directly. So a politician can win the national vote by millions but lose a few states if enough votes are siphoned off and they have less votes than the main opposing candidate, which may have radically different political goals. Sadly if the individual voter digresses to a lessor candidate (that may get less than 1% of the vote) because they want their vote to count, but in the process deny the most popular candidate and the one closest to their values the ability to win, and in the process deny the majority of voters their right to be represented.
While many rightly complain about voter suppression, the loss of an election may be more attributed to voter digression, in the form of voter abstinence or the siphoning off of votes by fringe candidates. Voters often do not realize they are in effect denying those most closely aligned with their political views the right to vote, since voting is a collective process that can only be won by a majority or plurality.
by mlhiss March 14, 2020