Working Families

Third parties aren’t too common in America, and there’s a reason why. Too often, voting for a third party candidate means casting your ballot for someone you know doesn’t have much hope of winning or, even worse, helping out the candidate you like the least (think Nader’s impact in Florida, 2000).

Not in New York. New York is one of the few states with “fusion” voting, where one candidate can be endorsed by multiple parties. It gives voters a way to “vote their values” without spoiling an election.

And it lets third parties like the WFP demonstrate support for the issues we’re fighting for. When votes on the WFP’s line help a candidate win, we can hold that politician accountable to working people, instead of special interests.

More about Fusion Voting:

• Open Ballot Voting, promoting fusion voting across the country.
• “Fusion Voting — An Old Idea That Makes Sense Again” by Josh Mason, policy director of the Progressive America Fund, advocating the restoration of fusion in Oregon.
• Blog posts by Dan Cantor, Executive Director of the Working Families Party on fusion voting at Talking Points Memo Cafe.
• Testimony of Adam Morse from the Brennan Center for Justice in favor of fusion.
• Wikipedia article on electoral fusion.
• A post by Scott Sheilds at the MyDD blog about fusion.
• An excerpt Micah Sifry’s history of third parties Spoiling for a Fight.