by Yanichka Ariunbold, section editor

With his signature peace-sign headband and “Jill 2016” shirt, senior Carlos Espina can frequently be heard around the school lamenting Bernie Sanders’ loss in the Democratic primaries.

“Once [Bernie] lost, I was like, ‘I don’t like Hillary Clinton at all, she’s a centrist, and Donald Trump is just insane, and Gary Johnson has no clue what’s going on in the world,’” Espina said. “So I thought Jill Stein and the Green Party were the only option for true progressives, especially those who supported Bernie’s ideas because if you look at Bernie’s old platform and the Green Party’s platform, they’re basically just the same thing.”

The Green Party of the United States, named for its emphasis on environmentalism, is, along with its 2016 presidential nominee Jill Stein, “super socially liberal”—a positive characteristic, in Espina’s eyes.

“Jill Stein’s not a politician; she’s held office in a city council in some city in Massachusetts, and that’s about it,” Espina said. “But I feel like she’s actually genuine, and if you look at her, she’s been fighting for human rights and workers’ rights and all this stuff I care about throughout her whole life, and that’s what the Green Party has been about, moving towards a future where we can be one with our planet and have a planet that can works for all of us and not just the people who have money.”

For Espina, Stein’s peaceful position regarding war is one of her greatest attributes as a presidential candidate.

“The biggest reason I would say I support Jill Stein is that she’s the only one truly anti-war,” Espina said. “I mean, Gary Johnson is too, but he’s anti-war in the sense that he wants to stay out of everything. I’m sure Donald Trump would start a war, and Hillary Clinton and the Democrats support a lot of interventionist policies and drone strikes.”

Coupled with Sanders’ exit from the presidential race in July, Clinton’s inconsistencies and scandals have turned Espina further away from the Democratic party.

“My issue with Clinton is that she’s moving towards the left on a lot of policies because it’s the popular thing to do and the thing that’ll get her the most votes, whichever way the current goes,” Espina said. “But we’re young, we know how to use YouTube, we can Google what she’s said in the past. I don’t trust her to fight for the people, no matter what she says.”

Yet despite his vocal support for the Green Party and criticism of Clinton, Espina actively volunteers with the Democrats of Brazos Valley, coordinating voter registration events, campaigning for local candidates and even running the organization’s Instagram account.

“[The Democrats of Brazos Valley] are the most progressive political party in the Brazos Valley, and I [get to] help down-ballot candidates, such as Bill Matta, who are the most progressive candidates in their specific races,” Espina said.

Espina’s advice for those who are eligible to vote on November 8th is to ignore the media’s portrayal of third party votes as so-called “wasted votes” and to simply cast their vote for the candidate they “truly believe in.”

“If I could vote, I’d vote for Jill Stein as opposed to having to choose between the lesser of two evils because at the end of the day, they’re both evil,” Espina said. “Vote for who you actually align with because that’s how democracy works and because a wasted vote is one you don’t believe in.”