system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
CMV: There's no point in voting (for the major parties) if you and your significant other cancel each other out. (US politics)

I tried looking for something similar, and I'm sure it's been posted, but any key words I punched in didn't seem to bring it up.

Very specifically, I'm referring to the situation where each of the two opposing parties has a major candidate, and you and your spouse (or hell, even a trusted roommate) will be voting for the opposite. Under these circumstances, there's no difference between both voting and neither voting in any discrepancy between two major candidates.

Now, perhaps you're both voting for the lesser of two evils, in which case you could both agree to not cancel each other out and, instead, vote third party. Still, there's no reason for two people to hold directly-opposing votes, since they effectively cancel each other out. You're just better off finding the common ground on which you agree and voting there, even if it means wasting time with a third party (at least it makes third parties seem a little more viable in the turnout).

This doesn't apply for any elections in which there are more than two candidates, but anyone familiar with the US voting system knows that third parties in presidential elections are just wishful thinking, even the one time they almost worked.
gpt
When you vote, you are *signaling*. Politicians count up the statistics on who votes for what to determine their policies. How often do people in your state vote? How often do people in your county vote? How divided is your district? These are all questions politicians consider.

Lets say the vote is divided 2-20 in an area (counting individual votes). The area is not "divided". Not at all. But what if 10,000 divided couples vote? Then the vote is 10,002-10,020. That's divided. But if two people don't vote, that's two non-voters political parties are not going to account for in making their platforms next year. In the grand scale, it makes a difference.