Approximately 1/2 of all voters skip general elections in the United States. The number is even higher in regular elections that do not include voting for a major office like president. Both the Republican and the Democratic candidates in the 2016 election only had about 1/4 of the voters choose to their electors. No candidate for president in the lifetime of most people has been endorsed by 1/3 of the voters.
The primary reason for voters skipping elections is lack of choice on the ballot. Most people do not know the reasons, but instinctively know that the ballots are rigged, forcing them to make a choice between "the lesser of two evils." It wasn't always like this and has gotten much worse since the candidacy of Ross Perot and the election of Jesse Ventura.
There are dozens of tricks which legislators who are members of the Democratic and Republican parties use to rig the ballots. The primary technique is the "two largest" laws. These laws state that only candidates from parties which are either the "two largest" by voter registration or whose candidates received the "two highest" vote totals in a prior election get special privileges.
An example of this is the presidential primary system. In many states, only the "two largest" parties get to choose their own presidential candidates. Other parties will have the names of whatever candidate won the primary in that state. This is called "substitution." For example, the Republican Party of Ohio was able to "substitute" Donald Trump's name for that of John Kasich on the Ohio ballot. Other parties did not have that privilege.
In Arizona, people are only allowed to register to vote as members of the party whose candidates received the "two highest" vote totals for governor (Republican and Democrat) without going through a special procedure. Those who don't check the Republican or Democratic box are considered "other." So why doesn't another party just get a higher vote total in a future election? Since people are not allowed to register as members of their party, they are not allowed to have candidates on the ballot. It is Republican vs. Democrat until the law is changed.
Some other random tricks:
North Carolina allows people to donate more money to the Republican and Democratic parties than the other parties.
In Pennsylvania all candidates, except Republicans and Democrats, must collect 5000 signatures to run for office and those signatures must be spread out over a 10 county area.
In Arkansas and Texas, candidates, except the Republican and Democratic (see the pattern) must file to run for public office the year BEFORE the election.
The Conscious Conservative belief is that every qualified candidate should have an equal chance to be on the ballot. All "two largest" laws should be immediately repealed. If states wish to have a year before or ten county requirement, let them, but they must apply to every candidate. Anything else is just a rigged election.
