I live in Washington State, which hasn’t voted for a Republican for president in half a century.

In terms of impact on the outcome, voting for “someone” and voting for “no one” are functionally the same.

Therefore my vote is purely symbolic.

If my vote is symbolic, then I will abstain, casting a symbolic vote of no confidence in the very system that renders my vote worthless.

Secondly, while my vote might not mean anything in real terms, the notion that Sanders’ supporters might not vote en masse has a practical, real world significance.

Because of the way delegate apportionment works, Sanders could sweep every state and still come up just shy of the 50 percent needed to secure the nomination in the first round.

If it comes to that, the Democrats are going to have to weigh the risks of nominating someone besides Sanders in the second round, and they’re going to have to reckon with the fact that taking that action might cost them the election. Bear in mind that they’ve been having “Stop Bernie” meetings since April 2019. The DNC has stacked the rules committee. They have been loudly opposed to Sanders throughout the entire campaign

So even though I might decide to vote for another Democrat in the general, I will tell a pollster that I won’t; I will write on all my social media that I won’t, etc. Because that is the only thing keeping the Democratic establishment honest at this point.

So I am taking my worthless vote in an undemocratic system and turning it into leverage against an undemocratic outcome.