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While presidential candidates from the Democratic Party slug it out with each other, Green Party candidate Dr. Jill Stein said she is fighting another opponent: voter cynicism.

Stein, the party’s presumptive nominee, was in Charlottesville on Saturday morning, saying she’s campaigning against what she calls “lesser evil-ism” — the idea that voters must choose the candidate they hate least.

“Democracy needs a moral compass,” Stein said just before her speech to about 100 people at the Central Branch of the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library. “Voting for what you don’t like is not a way forward.”

The Green Party is generally overlooked in media coverage, but it has received even less attention during a contentious election cycle with insurgencies in the two major parties. Stein sees it as a positive sign for the Green Party, which emphasizes environmental issues and is to the left of the Democratic Party on most issues.

Public Policy Polling puts Stein at 2 percent of the votes nationally. Stein points to the surging poll numbers of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders as a sign that she can gain momentum. (Sanders was polling about 10 percent when he announced his candidacy one year ago, according to Real Clear Politics; now that number is closer to 45 percent.)