Be Careful of the Libertarian (And Any Other) Third Party Candidate
Libertarians steal votes from Republicans. Period. Except....
We all know the reason Karl Rove insisted upon electronic voting without a paper trail (and preferably without exit polls). It was so that the e-vote could be hacked and Democratic votes could be reassigned to a third party splitter (usually the Green candidate) in close races, handing an entire state's electoral votes to the Republican. What he called "THE Math."
This can happen with any high profile third party candidate, not just a Green.
Now, if David Dukes decided to run for the White People's Party, it would be hard for Russian hackers to re-assign Democratic votes to the WPP. It would not pass the smell test, as in "Something is rotten in the Kremlin."
However, if the Libertarian has the right kind of financial support (i.e. mega bucks from the Kremlin) and if he downplays usual Libertarian values of no government, no bailouts, no nothing and instead starts talking like the newer, younger, hipper alternative to Trump, he could then be used by KGB hackers to siphon votes from Biden to the Libertarian in tight races.
I expect that this fall will be a replay of 2008--massive angry voter turnout that will make it impossible for Trump or Putin to make use of all their dirty little tricks like voter suppression and e-vote hacking. However, in the dirty game of politics it is better to assume nothing and plan for the worst possible scenario.
So, please, watch any third party candidate. And, in particular watch who is funding them and watch how the KBG/Facebook trolls are promoting them. Jill Stein made the Greens a "No Go" this time around, however she was so successful at doing what she did (handing Trump the White House) that Russia is going to try the same ploy again. You can count on it. Putin is desperate. If he loses the White House, he might get forced out in Russia due to COVID and low oil prices and the Russian economic Depression that is sure to come. His only hope is to keep control of the POTUS.