Throwing away votes

So I just posted two short letters of Dad's from 1944. He talks about throwing away a vote on a socialist. We do not even have this option today. I do not think that any vote is thrown away. If you vote for someone and they do not win your vote still has value. We just had an election and I find I have felt rather positive since then. Not because of all of the results but rather because of a few of them and because of the overall direction I feel that people are moving in. I am encouraged by the number of women going into the US Senate. by the votes in Washington and Colorado on changing our relationships with the use of marijuana. I do hope that we can move away from declaring 'war' on everything from poverty and drugs to other countries - War is not the answer.