Every four years my Green Party friends calculate that Washington is a “safe” state for getting Democrats elected, so they can vote their values without concern. I don’t buy that. Our State Senate is Republican-controlled because two legislators changed parties in a power grab. Washington is especially not a “Democrat safe” state this year when the stakes are so high and an October surprise could radically alter the outcome.

Melvin Mackey asked in his Letter to the Editor, “where do you do the most good?” (“Vote for the candidate with the values closest to those you support,” Oct. 5). I ask how you can do any good at all voting for a third-party candidate polling in the low single digits. If you really want to push for the most progressive policies we can achieve at this time (as Bernie has clearly stated), you vote for Hillary and ask your fellow Green Party supporters, especially in red and swing states, to do the same. If not, we risk a repeat of 2000 when a Green Party vote in Florida may have put the Electoral College vote at odds with the popular vote and gave us Bush (we’ll never be certain since the Supreme Court stopped the recount).

Even if Hillary gets elected, we will see little progressive progress unless Democrats reclaim at least the Senate (and thus a Supreme Court appointment), and hopefully the House. So getting the Democratic vote out nationwide is essential. I worked with Mackey on Instant Runoff Voting, and I believe in it, but that future is not here yet. I would also like to see viable third parties but believe that will only happen when we build them from the bottom up with good candidates for local and state offices.

Please don’t risk all of our futures by a possible miscalculation on Nov. 8.

— Ellen Kritzman