Recently, we at LDS Dems have been fielding queries from friends about whether they should engage in tactical voting and support Evan McMullin to deny Donald the state's electoral message. The short answer: NO. The long answer:

This open letter was originally published on Medium, and is republished here with the author's permission.

Dear Utah Voter,

By now you’ve heard that Donald Trump is tanking in our state.

A poll from last week showed that his support plummeted to 26%, putting him on par with Hillary Clinton and only slightly ahead of Evan McMullin. And a poll from this week shows Clinton, Trump, and McMullin in a statistical tie.

If you’re still considering Trump, you likely fall into two camps. You’re either excited about the candidate, or you’re voting for him simply to protest the alternative.

To those of you who are excited about Trump, I genuinely wish you the best. I hope we will work together after the election to fight crony capitalism and injustice in Washington. Your views on those issues deserve to be heard and taken seriously.

To those of you who are voting for Trump to protest the alternative, I hope you’ll reconsider.

This post was previously written by A. H. Green and has been published with his permission.

Brother Green earned a PhD (UCLA, 1973) in Mid-East History/Arabic and has chaired the Arabic Studies Department (American University in Cairo, 1982-85), directed the BYU Jerusalem Center (2000-02), and chaired BYU’s History Department (2005-07). He served a mission in France (1960-63), presided over the LDS Cairo Egypt Branch (1977-80) and the Israel District (2000-02); he and his wife have served two post-retirement missions.

NBC’s “Mormon in America” special (23 Aug 2012) noted that Mitt Romney’s fellow Latter-day Saints supported his two presidential bids (2008 and 2012). Addressing other voters suspicious of his faith, Romney rightly argued in a 6 Dec 2007 speech at College Station, TX, that a candidate’s religion shouldn’t matter. It had mattered to Al Smith, whose being Catholic likely abetted his loss to Hoover in 1928; it hadn’t mattered to Eisenhower, whose being raised a Jehovah’s Witness never became a campaign issue. Romney’s speech cited the U.S. Constitution (VI:3): “no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.” He might have also quoted LDS scripture: “We do not believe it just to mingle religious influence with civil government” (Doctrine & Covenants 134: 9). The coin’s other side is that no U.S. citizen is obligated to favor a coreligionist at the polls.

Like Romney I’m an “active” Mormon who served a mission in France, and who has shepherded a congregation and a set of them. Yet I voted twice for Barack Obama and plan to vote for Hillary Clinton—not despite being a Mormon but partly because of it. Elaborated below are some of my reasons, about which I speak for myself only.

What is your motivation for doing the things you do?  Are you trying to please a friend or family?  Have you got some eternal to-do list?  Are you trying to derive some extrinsic or intrinsic pleasure or satisfaction?

In my 60 years, I have never been aware of a candidate who has thrived upon negative attention quite as much as Donald John Trump. I have never seen a following of such a person as unwavering as we see now. My purpose of the following essay is less to analyze the personality of the man, which has been scrutinized in increasingly microscopic detail, nor to rake muck from his life and works. Rather, I will attempt to look at possible reasons for his enduring appeal, and what this might mean to us as a people.

Charlene McArthur Albarran was raised in Pocatello, Idaho.

I grew up in a household in which my mother had a PhD and worked while my father stayed home. My parents' unconventional relationship helped me to understand the importance of equality in a marriage, as well as the importance of pursuing a higher education. This upbringing encouraged me to support women's rights and gender equality.

I am a Democrat because I believe that it is our responsibility to care for this earth that God created for us.

To explain why I associate with Democrats is not a simple answer.

I was first drawn to the Democrats because they are more inclusive in their membership.