I'm not voting for Trump or Biden. You want my vote? Choose better candidates.

Shortly after Nikki Haley dropped out of the GOP presidential primary, I wrote a column stating that despite being a conservative, I won’t vote for either Donald Trump or Joe Biden.

Despite dozens of furious emails proclaiming that I am not a real conservative, that I am some secret Democrat, or encouraging me to vote Biden, I have not changed my mind.

However, I think that one argument is one worth addressing. Many people read the column and told me that every vote is valuable and my choice to not vote is throwing away my right to have my voice heard. 

We are unbelievably lucky in America to have a vote that actually matters. That is something I do not take for granted. As much as people like to incorrectly claim that our elections are somehow rigged, we do not live in Vladimir Putin’s Russia, where he recently received a staggering 87% of the vote in an election devoid of any meaningful opposition. 

Why would I vote for somebody I do not believe should lead us?

I understand why my willingness to discard that voting right is off-putting to many. It's something I wrestled with for years as a hypothetical scenario that has become a dreadful reality.

My thought process is simple: I cannot in good conscience vote for Biden, who has entirely neglected his duty as president to secure the border and has weaponized the FBI against pro-lifers, alongside countless other abuses of power and failed policies. At the same time, Trump is an unacceptable candidate due to his actions in the fallout of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot, his refusal to debate other GOP candidates in this primary cycle, and his self-admitted history of abusing women. 

Why would anybody vote for these candidates?

My generation is up for grabs.Don't believe the narrative that Gen Z will vote Biden.

Rather than choose to vote for someone I think is entirely unfit for office, I would prefer to use my vote to tell the major political parties that they have failed. I hope other conservatives join me. Our choice to vote in other 2024 races while ignoring the presidency would send a clear message that earning the White House requires a candidate worthy of it. We can still vote in state elections that matter.

We criticize Democrats for voting for the "Weekend-At-Bernie’s"-esque candidate: Biden. But we also need to have standards, even if that means potentially losing an election to prove that point. 

Gen Z has a chance to voice our dissatisfaction

One quarter of Gen Z is reluctant to vote for either Trump or Biden. People from my age crave normalcy when it comes to candidate selection and had a chance to capitalize on that desire. While Gen Z does skew heavily toward the left, such a significant portion of us not being sold on Biden shows a missed opportunity by Republicans who only had to nominate a candidate capable of capturing moderate voters.

Pence won't endorse Trump.Here's why that doesn't actually matter.

Our best course of action as a generation is to not choose the lesser of two evils, but rather show the two major parties that our votes could have been won had they chosen different candidates. While I personally would be very unlikely to vote for anyone the Democrats could nominate for president, much of my generation is ready to jump on board, especially when the alternative is Trump.

Republican voters need to realize this is bigger than winning one election

As for Republicans, we should not fall victim to the lie that the fate of the country is at stake with this election. That rhetoric is helpful for rallying voters to your side but is dishonest. Our country will survive Biden’s first disastrous presidency, and it can survive another four years.

Our country survived Trump’s fruitless attempts to retain power after he lost the presidency in 2020, and it would survive a second term of his as well. Presidents do not determine the fate of our country, as much as doomsayers on both sides like to forecast. 

The fate of America is not at stake in this specific election, but rather in all future elections. If America's two major political parties continue to offer disastrous candidates, then America will remain in political distress.

My choice to not vote for Trump or Biden is one that is rooted in concern for the future, not the tales of imminent doomsday the pundits forecast. 

Dace Potas is an Opinion fellow for USA TODAY. A graduate from DePaul University with a degree in political science, he's also president of the Lone Conservative, the largest conservative student-run publication in the country.