Fiercely partisan voters on both sides of the aisle agree on one thing: If you vote for a third party or independent candidate instead of one with an "(R)" or "(D)" printed next to their name in the newspapers, you are basically just "throwing away" your vote.

In their political calculus, a principled vote is a wasted vote unless it's for a candidate that's polling as one of the top two in an election, and for them it's better to cast a damage control vote for the least bad option that has a chance of winning, than waste a vote on principle.

AUGUSTA, MAINE - Tens of thousands of voters have already voted in the Maine elections, and state officials expect higher-than-normal turnout for the 2018 midterms Tuesday. The midterm surge comes during the historic use of ranked choice voting for US House and Senate races.

SAN DIEGO, CALIF. - The 2018 midterms are coming to a close. Control of Congress is at stake. The future direction of US policy on a range of issues is at stake. In many states, the future of the electoral and political process is at stake as well.

The media is obsessed with the red versus blue battle across the country in a nationalized narrative that takes away from the issues and values important to voters. They turn to the pollsters to predict a red wave or a blue wave.

Yet what if we are not seeing either?

Independent voters make up over 40 percent of registered voters in the United States today, while fewer than 30 percent are either registered Republicans or Democrats, and these voters will be the key to winning in swing districts without a partisan stronghold.

San Diego, Calif.- Ohio Gov. John Kasich might be changing his tune when it comes to running for president as a third-party candidate.

Last March in Los Angeles at the "New Way California" event, I asked Kasich if he would consider a third-party run for president, he denied having interest.

Then this week on ABC's "The View," Kasich noted, “I think, for the first time, there is a legitimate chance for a third-party candidate."

Although his election forecasting website, FiveThirtyEight, still gives Democrats a 7 in 8 chance (87%) of winning control of the U.S. House of Representatives, and Republicans a paltry 1 in 8 chance (13%), statistician Nate Silver hedged rather significantly in an interview on ABC's This Week Sunday.

San Diego, Calif.- According to a recent NPR poll, nearly 80 percent of voters are concerned that the negative tone and lack of civility in Washington will lead to violence or acts of terror.

That toxic tone has become commonplace in contentious races for many years. But there are representatives, and candidates, who have stuck to a more civil approach to politics.

Update: The San Diego Union-Tribune just authored a compelling special report on NPP voters.

Many political commentators today are perplexed by what seems to be the increasing polarization of the two party system in America, and the rising tensions that have accompanied a rhetorical arms race of inflammatory cross fire.

It is my contention that the Republican and Democratic Parties are not in fact drifting further apart than ever before, but over recent decades have actually become more and more like each other, and that today they are nearly indistinguishable from each other in terms of the substantive policy results each delivers when in power.

San Diego, Calif.- Oprah Winfrey is a registered independent, wait... what?

The cultural icon said she has "earned the right to think for myself and to vote for myself."

At a rally in Marietta, Georgia for gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, Oprah emphasized the importance of getting out to vote over any partisan or policy message.

Independents across the country let out a collective, hell yes!