Votes & ballots · Presidential election results
Third-party & independent votes
Everything outside the two major parties, grouped as 'other'.
Third-party and independent votes cover every candidate outside the Democratic and Republican nominees — Libertarian, Green, independent bids like Ross Perot's, plus write-ins and ballot options like Nevada's 'None of these candidates'. This dataset groups all of it into a single 'other' bucket rather than breaking out each minor party.
The 'other' share swings a lot by year: about 19% in 1992 at the Perot peak, versus under 2% in most recent elections. That variation is exactly why analysts often prefer two-party vote share when comparing places across years.
Also known as: minor party, independent candidates, other votes.
Data: MIT Election Data & Science Lab, Harvard Dataverse.
See third-party & independent votes on the map
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Third-party & independent votes — FAQ
What is third-party & independent votes in election results data?+
Everything outside the two major parties, grouped as 'other'. Third-party and independent votes cover every candidate outside the Democratic and Republican nominees — Libertarian, Green, independent bids like Ross Perot's, plus write-ins and ballot options like Nevada's 'None of these candidates'. This dataset groups all of it into a single 'other' bucket rather than breaking out each minor party.
Why does third-party & independent votes matter?+
The 'other' share swings a lot by year: about 19% in 1992 at the Perot peak, versus under 2% in most recent elections. That variation is exactly why analysts often prefer two-party vote share when comparing places across years.
Where does this election data come from?+
All figures come from the MIT Election Data and Science Lab (MEDSL), published on the Harvard Dataverse — state-level presidential returns 1976–2024 and county-level returns 2000–2024. pumsdata is an independent product that makes the data easy to map and compare, and is not affiliated with MEDSL or Harvard.