let me share an article written by one of the few journalists i admire and respect, conrado de quiros. this article was published back in april 18, 2007 but he had written the first article back in 2004. it is about a 'wasted vote'.

this is for the people who give their vote not to the people who they deem deserving because of the mentality "he's not going to win anyway". this is a sad reality which exists today leading to the upcoming elections.

here's an excerpt:

I do not buy the notion of the “wasted vote.” The only wasted vote I can see is the one you give to a candidate you do not believe in simply because you think he or she has a chance to win. That is boundless waste, not least because it stands to waste the country. To this day, I do not regret not voting for Joseph Estrada in 1998. To this day, I do not see that I wasted my vote voting for somebody else. If there was any “wasted vote,” it was the one that went to Estrada. That is so not just because he never got to finish his term but because people voted for him simply because “he was going to win anyway” whatever they did. People who do not want to appear like fools by voting for a “weak candidate” are on a straight path to it.

click on link below for the full article:
Again, the ‘wasted vote’ - INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos