“We live in too big a country to think that everybody’s views are going to fall within the two big parties. The fusion system allows a more constructive role for people who want to be part of minor parties.” --- @workingfamilies.org
Center for Ballot Freedom
@centerforballotfreedom.org
America’s political system is broken. We are a cross-partisan nonprofit project that aims to protect and strengthen American democracy by reviving #FusionVoting 🗳️✨ Learn more: https://centerforballotfreedom.org/
If you work in or around the field of political reform and the ongoing crisis of democracy in America, you may have noticed a new consensus emerging amidst the current wreckage. It rests on a few shared beliefs: substack.com/home/post/p-...
An Emerging New Consensus?
“The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present.
substack.com
"[A] pipeline can be built anywhere there are people willing to do the work. "We’re going to build it across the South, deep enough...to make the big + necessary structural changes of our own, from proportional rep + fusion voting to ending the winner-take-all system that was rigged from the jump."
The endorsements reflect the Working Families Party’s current strategy in Wisconsin, where it is supporting candidates running as Democrats while working to restore fusion voting, an effort it has recently pursued alongside the Libertarian Party of Wisconsin.
Wisconsin Working Families Party Backs Nine Democrats in State Primary
The Wisconsin Working Families Party has endorsed nine Democrats seeking state office this year, backing a blend of incumbent lawmakers and primary challengers ahead of Wisconsin’s August 11 state pri...
independentpoliticalreport.com
Familiarity, however, does seem to produce greater support. Fusion voting, for example, fared best in the Northeast where people are already used to seeing it on ballots (most famously in NY, but also CT and VT, with some limited use in NH).
Lee Drutman advocates for fusion voting to pave the way for proportional representation. leedrutman.substack.com/p/how-fusion... If CO had fusion voting, then I would be listed under the Forward, Approval Voting, Unity and perhaps other party lines. www.coloradosos.gov/pubs/electio...
In battleground states like Wisconsin, fusion voting would tip the scales towards either major party candidate without spoiling elections
Can our political parties be fixed? A recent episode of this podcast explores why many are frustrated with the current party system and examines proposals for strengthening political representation, rebuilding trust in institutions, & improving democratic participation. scholars.org/podcast/can-...
Can America’s Political Parties be Fixed? | Scholars Strategy Network
No Jargon celebrates its 300th episode with a conversation about where American democracy and politics stand today, featuring the Scholar Strategy Network’s new board chair, Mark Schmitt.
scholars.org
"Fusion could help diversify politics as it has in New York.” --- @juliasassrubin.bsky.social @rutgersu.bsky.social
Lauren Collins’ new book They Stole a City examines the 1898 Wilmington, NC coup, when white supremacists overthrew a local government. The book traces the effects of the violence on families & communities & explores the role of the multiracial “Fusion” political movement leading up to the coup.
In Connecticut, the 2010 gubernatorial election was decided by a razor-thin margin, with a fusion party’s vote total far exceeding the margin of victory. The elected governor passed the first statewide paid sick leave legislation, a top legislative priority for the minor party.
Did you know #FusionVoting used to be legal across the U.S.? It was outlawed in most states to protect the two-party system, limiting voter choice and weakening smaller parties. Bringing it back could help fix our democracy by giving voters more power without wasting the vote. ✊
Now Sam's back in court, representing the Michigan Common Sense Party and the Michigan Libertarian Party in a suit filed in May challenging the state's 131-year-old ban on fusion voting. @sbagen.bsky.social @umichlawlib.bsky.social @fordschool.bsky.social @msifry.bsky.social
In Connecticut, a moderate minor party (A Connecticut Party) used its ballot line to build, elect, and support a cross-partisan legislative coalition that succeeded in passing the state’s first income tax in the early 1990s. #ThrowbackThursday #TBT #FusionVoting
Even though major parties banned #FusionVoting in many states, #ThirdParties could help revive it by challenging restrictive laws, building voter coalitions, and leveraging ballot access strategies.
On the latest episode of This Old Democracy, @msifry.bsky.social talks with @sbagen.bsky.social, the Frank G. Millard Professor of Law at @umich.edu and a professor of public policy at @fordschool.bsky.social. The main topic: a lawsuit he's helped bring to get us out of the two-party "doom loop."
Fusion voting, already used in NY and CT, allows candidates to appear on multiple party ballot lines. The result: more choices for voters who want to support a party that reflects their values, while encouraging coalition-building and cooperation across parties. @edkilgore.bsky.social @nymag.com
Combined with fusion voting—which already allows candidates to appear on multiple party lines in New York—proportional representation could give voters more ways to express their political preferences while encouraging broader governing coalitions. manhattan.institute/article/unde...
Understanding How Proportional Representation Might Work in New York City
On May 28, Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced the creation of a Charter Revision Commission (CRC), called the Commission on Government Efficiency, with a mandate to make government work better.[1] The…
manhattan.institute
A noted civil rights lawyer and law professor makes the constitutional case for reviving fusion voting (and fusion parties) — and explains why he thinks the timing is right. @sbagen.bsky.social @msifry.bsky.social Read more: substack.com/home/post/p-...
Podcast: Sam Bagenstos on litigating our way to a multi-party system in Michigan
A noted civil rights lawyer and law professor makes the constitutional case for reviving fusion voting (and fusion parties) — and explains why he thinks the timing is right.
substack.com
The biggest federal barrier is a single law passed in 1967 requiring single-member congressional districts. Change the law, and states could have the option to adopt fusion voting and proportional systems. Sometimes the biggest reforms are closer than they appear.
Fusion voting offers a different approach to political competition: candidates can appear on multiple party ballot lines, allowing voters to support both a candidate and a party that reflects their priorities. @newamerica.org @leedrutman.bsky.social www.newamerica.org/insights/the...
The Case for Fusion Voting and a Multiparty Democracy in America
At New America, our work spans across five issue areas—each essential to building a nation and a world where everyone can thrive.
newamerica.org
Fusion voting—where multiple parties can endorse the same candidate—is one way for parties to cooperate in those single-member races while still maintaining distinct political identities. @leedrutman.bsky.social @newamerica.org @politicalreform.newamerica.org
The answer is simple. Demand fusion voting. protectdemocracy.org/work/fusion-...
Fusion voting, explained
Fusion voting allows more than one political party to nominate the same candidate on the ballot, empowering minor parties to unite a cross-ideological coalition behind a single candidate.
protectdemocracy.org
fusion voting reforms would be worthwhile here, i think
Andy Craig@andycraig.bsky.social · last mo.And on the presidential level, winner-take-all as that inherently is, parties could negotiate to have a combined nominating process for a single candidate to rally behind, if they want and find enough agreement for it. It’s not incompatible with a multi-party system, we have examples of it.
When voters have more meaningful political homes and coalitions are built through bargaining rather than domination, democracy becomes more representative, responsive, and resilient.