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, will hand a victory to the candidate you like the least (think Ralph Nader in the 2000 election).

Not in New York. Here, more than one political party can back the same candidate in a race. It’s called “fusion” voting, and it’s a way for you to vote your values without spoiling an election.

Here’s how: when you go to vote, you’ll see the same candidate listed under multiple parties on the ballot — say “Democrat” and “Working Families.” Voting for that candidate under Working Families counts the same as voting for them under the Democratic party line — but it also lets them know that you expect them to fight for the issues we care about.

Candidates know how many votes they got from Working Families voters, and when those votes help them win, we can expect that politician to fight for us, not special interests.

More about Fusion Voting:

• Open Ballot Voting, promoting fusion voting across the country.
• 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.