Third party votes are a vital, necessary aspect of the election process. In theory, they serve as a way to ensure all voters cast a ballot for whoever they feel most aligns with their personal beliefs.

And in practice, I sincerely hope they become a viable alternative to the two-party system in the future.

Unfortunately, they have no place in the 2016 election. Forget what you thought you knew about the race to the White House. All bets are off — they have been ever since Donald Trump clinched the Republican nomination back in July.

Here’s what we do know: Gary Johnson and Jill Stein will not be elected President. Rosy ideals of “sticking it to the man” or not, we will all wake up on Nov. 9 with either Trump or Clinton as our next commander-in-chief. If you have any shred of a conscience, you should do your part to ensure the election doesn’t result in favor of the former.

As a still-a-little-sore Sanders supporter, I know as well as anyone that apathy is a hard hurdle to overcome this election season. But if passion doesn’t motivate you to vote for Clinton, fear ought to.

Trump poses a serious, imminent threat to the livelihood of our country. By ignoring that threat and voting third party, you actively turn your back on those who would be damaged the most by a Trump presidency.

People of color, LGBTQ folks, immigrants and low-income families (to name a few) all have a tremendous amount to lose in this election. It would be nothing less than a crime to gamble on their human rights just to prove a point.

If you are considering doing this by voting for a third party  by handing your vote to Trump  I implore you to take some time to consider your actions. Consider those around you and the ways in which you will surely be adversely effecting them by tossing a haphazard vote in the direction of the peanut gallery we call our 2016 third party candidates.

And if you truly believe in the viability of third parties (which, in any other scenario except the 2016 election, you ought to), you would do well to start from the bottom up.

A random, out-of-context vote in a presidential race is not the best way to help promote the growth of an alternative political party. Instead, take the time to campaign for third party candidates running locally and nurture a strong support base at lower levels. By the way, you can do this and still vote for Clinton in the upcoming election.

In time and with great effort, I hope as much as the rest of you do that third parties become normalized. In fact, I long to see an end to the two-party system.

But I also long to see America survive the next four to eight years. To ensure that happens, let’s all make the right choice in November.