History Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

History - Essay Example In the 1890 and 1915 elections in the Unite States, the republicans and the democrats joined to draft state laws prohibiting third party candidates from having third names on the ballot in presidential elections. Third party candidates are more likely to win elections easily at the local level which may cost a lot in other aspects of the elections according to Bibby and Schaffner (278). In avoiding this, the American government adopts a unique electoral system of winner-takes-all which allows the domination of two parties only. The third party candidate is said to add more weight on either of the two candidates in an attempt to improve their political agenda after elections. Although these third party candidates rarely emerge as winners, they may have an impact on the elections. For instance they mostly accused with issue of spoiler impact. This is because they it is likely for them expose issues which majority parties may ignore. If the issue is accepted by the voters, the major par ties may adopt it into their party platform. Another impact of third party candidates is that they can be used to pass a protest vote as a type of referendum on a significant issue. This may have the effect of an important issue being voted against due to disagreements between the major parties.