Third party candidates are not usually taken seriously because they tend to go against mainstream politics. Voting for third party candidates is often considered to be a waste.

In this year’s election, Joe Futrelle was a Green Party candidate running for Champaign County Board in the eighth district.

Although he did not win, Futrelle did receive 26 percent of the overall votes and he said he’s still pleased with the results.

“It’s unreal to me,” Futrelle said. “For a third party candidate to do really well is really encouraging to me, because it shows not just that I’m doing well, but that people are ready for more alternatives in our democracy and they really want there to be more choices.”

Even though none of the Green Party candidates were able to win any of the major races, most of them were able to gain high vote totals throughout the state, especially in Champaign County.

Futrelle said he hopes this election will prove to people that the Green Party is a credible party and that they are not just running as a form of protest to the two-party system.