This is a great point that I completely forgot to address in my post! Thank you for bringing it up. And I agree with you 100%. If you live in a state where the results are all but guaranteed, I think you ought to vote for whomever you please -- the Libertarian candidate, Green Party candidate, etc. -- since there's no incentive not to do so.

I'm from Pennsylvania, so I don't have that luxury anymore, though I definitely wish I did. We were a reliably blue state through the 90s and 2000s, and I honestly never thought that was going to change. I never imagined we'd go for Trump in 2016. But ever since then, I've been voting blue across the board. Not because I want to, but because I can't take Democratic victories for granted any longer!