To the editor:

When the Daily Mining Gazette’s cutoff for election-related letters is almost a week before Election Day, it is a little hard to anticipate exactly what choices voters may actually face when the time comes to vote. The way things are going this time around, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton may well both be in prison before people read this letter.

It is my opinion that the news media has been extremely unfair to Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson. When Johnson momentarily failed to recognize the Syrian city of Aleppo during a TV interview, he was declared instantly disqualified for office.

It is only the word limit on letters here which prevents me from going into the long lists of instant disqualifiers for Trump and Clinton, yet somehow we can never quite seem to get rid of either of them. I will just say that it would be easy enough to get Johnson up to speed on any given geographical area with a few briefings, but to what school can we send Hillary Clinton to learn honesty? Or Donald Trump to learn sanity?

Assuming that these two villains are still at large on Election Day, I suppose it is inevitable that the vast majority of voters will be unable to disenthrall themselves from the two-party dogma that demands voting against your greater fear. Personally, I refuse to contribute to elevating either Trump or Clinton to a position that rightfully demands the highest sort of moral character and good judgment.

But aside from considerations which might be termed idealistic, there is a big practical reason to vote for Johnson. That is, if he reaches 5 percent of the popular vote then the Libertarian Party will achieve major-party status. That will give the Libertarian Party automatic ballot access in future elections – eliminating the need for tedious and costly petition drives in every state, every election cycle, just to get their candidates’ names on the ballot. And note that while the president is selected by the oddball electoral college system, this magic 5 percent figure for major-party status is popular vote.

The convoluted currents of the electoral college system often render individual votes for even a leading major-party candidate virtually meaningless for election purposes, but every single vote for Governor Gary Johnson contributes in a real and meaningful way towards building up a much-needed third voice in American politics.

Maureen Loosemore

Hancock