ITHACA, N.Y. -- There is a small portion of die-hard Bernie Sanders supporters who are essentially throwing their presidential vote away and writing in their candidate. They're well aware the vote will not be counted.

"We have the privilege of being in a state that's not a swing state," Ithacash founder Scott Morris said. "I had planned to vote for Bernie the whole time and I see no reason why I should change that plan."

Morris knows that Sanders has not registered as a write-in candidate. But he said his protest vote is being done as a matter of principle, despite what he said is extreme peer-pressure to vote for Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.

He said Clinton is one of the most historically disliked candidates ever who is landing votes because people are trying to run from a Donald Trump presidency.

"I don't follow the group-think of 'Well we need to get on board or you're a terrible person or your helping Trump. I'm not on board for that."

"It's much more than the damn emails," Morris said. He cited Clinton's foreign policy, which he said has led to the deaths of countless women and children over the years. He said her campaign tactics have been horrible -- specifically stating that some Clinton supporters coordinated with a super PAC during the primaries to shut down Bernie Sanders Facebook groups by posting child pornography and threats of violence in the comments. Facebook has denied that they purposefully shut down Sanders groups, blaming the temporary unavailability of he pages on a technical error.

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And voting Trump just isn't an option for him because he said he can't imagine a less qualified person for president.

"I don't see a need for me to compromise my values or sully my hands by voting for a candidate that has not earned my support," he said.

Plot twist

At 4:43 p.m., The Ithaca Voice followed up with Morris about the decision to write-in Sanders only to learn that Morris actually decided to vote for Green Party candidate Jill Stein instead.

"I still stand by all of it, and I still wanted very much to write in Bernie...," Morris said.

But as he scrolled through Facebook this morning, his online community of friends and peers swayed him in a different direction.

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Not voting for Stein, he said, would have been a missed opportunity "to support the green party and break the two-party strangle hold on the nation."

"There is actually some pretty good sense in that," he said. "It was kind of a plot twist in my life. It was a very unexpected turn, but I feel good about it."

Featured photo courtesy of Flickr.