I disagree that voting outside the two main parties constitutes throwing one's vote away. The object is not to vote for who you THINK will win, but who you WANT to win. If everyone voted for the Candidate They Really In Their Wildest Dreams Want to Win, the results could be remarkably different. But people have become so complacent that few are willing to look outside the network TV news for their candidate information.

The very first time I was able to vote was 1988, when I was 21. When I got into the booth I remember thinking, wow, I didn't know all these people were running for President. Why didn't I hear about them in the news?

All the candidates matter whether anyone wants to admit it or not but since all our media are focused on Donkeys and Elephants, it's up to the individual to do the research. It's impossible to make a good informed choice if you're not armed with information.