If the "spoiler" role of third parties is to be avoided and everyone feels free to vote for the candidate they really want rather than a candidate they think actually has a chance of being elected, a significant voting system change will be required.

Instant-runoff voting may fix the third party problem.

Under this system, voting works like this: You rank your three favorite candidates by order of preference.

If a candidate wins the majority of No. 1 votes, they win, but if not, the candidate with the fewest No. 1 votes is eliminated from consideration, and the No. 2 votes of the voters who voted for that eliminated candidate go to the other candidates of their choice.

This instant-runoff process is repeated until a candidate gets a majority (more than 50 percent of the total vote). For example, if you wanted Buchanan as president, but definitely didn't want Gore, you could have put Buchanan as your No. 1 choice and Bush as your No. 2 choice. After Buchanan was eliminated from consideration for too low of a vote count, Bush would have gotten your vote, but in the meantime, you would have boosted Buchanan's vote tally.

One disadvantage of this system is that it makes it seem like some people get to vote more than once.

ven if it helps eliminate "spoilers," the main political parties probably don't like the system as a whole because it allows third parties a "foot in the door."

If you support some third party and ever hope to get your candidate elected, concentrating on changing the voting system would be a good start.