Hillary, Donald, Gary or … wait for it … Jill? Watching the national news and reading local accounts of presidential candidates' policy positions, it is easy to miss learning about Green Party candidate Jill Stein. For those who do make the effort required to learn about her positions, and her proposed solutions to a wide range of issues not fully addressed by the two dominant parties, there remains the fear of the spoiler effect. Many voters continue to believe that Ralph Nader cost Al Gore the presidency.

In this year of the Mr. Trump’s failing candidacy, I’d like to point out two items about our votes. First: Depending upon the source doing the research, there are between six and 12 states in contention in a close election. Oregon is not one of them. Oregon is reliably Democratic in presidential voting. There is no need to fear that voting for Jill, in Oregon, will result in Trump being elected. Second: In Benton County you have the opportunity to start turning the corner on putting an end to the spoiler effect completely. Ballot Measure 2-100, ranked choice voting, only applies to Benton County. Demonstrating its value here is a good step toward better elections in Oregon and eventually presidential elections.