On the bright side, these folks tend to be civically and electoral uninvolved. So they aren’t having any net effect on policy, other than slightly endorsing the status quo.
Take 2024 vs 2020 where turnout dropped 4% [1] and compare it to the 2025 NYC mayoral race where more people in 2025 voted for Mamdani [2] then voted in 2021 at all [3]. IMO, the horrendous turnout is a reflection of the horrendous candidates that run.
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voter_turnout_in_United_States...
[2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_New_York_City_mayoral_ele...
[3]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_New_York_City_mayoral_ele...
That's not the intent. But de facto, they either have no or that effect. Particularly in primaries.
There is also a huge messaging difference between casting a blank ballot and not showing up at all. The presumption is you can safely ignore someone who doesn't vote for several cycles because they tend to keep not voting for novel–but consistently exculpatory–excuses each time around. You have to still pay attention to intermittent voters if you don't want to get caught wrong-footed by a wave.
normalize supporting a proper civics test before the right to vote is granted. you don't have to agree with any political topics, but you have to understand how politics actually work before you can cast a vote
I've voted in New York and Wyoming. In a general election, my Presidential vote does not practically count. As a result, I can typically throw it for a third party as a messaging vote. (If New York or Wyoming are turning out to be contested, the fight was won elesewhere.)
If you're in a swing state and you don't vote, you're about as important for the Presdiential general-election campaign you would not have voted for if you bothered to show up as an actual opposition voter. (Depressing turnout among unlikely voters who might vote for the other candidate is a real, precedented, cosultants-who-specialise-in-this-exclusively social-media-advertising turnout strategy.)
the point is, we need completely new thought in government to get out of the two-party duopoly that's currently eating the US from the inside. george washington hated political parties. we should strive to think like him a bit more