You left off an answer..."There wasn't a candidate I thought was qualified to be President."
I wasn't going to vote for Trump because he is a lying fraud with a dangerous disposition.
I wasn't going to vote for Clinton because she is crooked and got good Americans killed.
I wasn't going to vote for Gary Johnson when the guy didn't know what Aleppo was or who Harriet Tubman was.
I wasn't going to vote for Jill Stein because... she just is flat out not qualified.
I'm sorry I don't believe in voting for someone to be President just because I hate someone else more. I take my vote more seriously than that.
My view is different. I voted for Johnson as support for the LP, not because I thought he would actually win. I also voted for a candidate I knew wouldn't win to show the 1st and 2nd place winners that there are active-voting Americans who didn't approve of either of them.
This is the exact right answer.
A vote communicates a message. Not voting is interpreted as not giving a shit.
A vote communicates the message, "Keep doing what you are doing." This is exactly why we should not vote for even a lesser evil. I absolutely refuse to tell an evil, lesser or otherwise, "Keep doing what you are doing."
When you vote for someone other than the top two evils, you are telling those top two evils how much you think they suck.
However, voting for a propellerhead like the Liberatarians is almost worse than not voting. It's dumb to avoid voting for two evils, but then vote for a stone cold crazy party.
And this is coming from someone with a wide libertarian (small l) streak.
Which is why I usually write in a name. Someone who is sane and the better good.