Word: fusions
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...there’s a solution which, while not a panacea, will go a long way towards solving both of these problems. It’s called “fusion voting...
Sitting on the Massachusetts ballot this year as the referendum “Question Two,” fusion voting allows candidates to be endorsed by more than one party. In effect, this empowers regional and local third parties to endorse mainstream candidates while retaining their own, distinctive platform. Issues-oriented third parties can then amass a strong constituency, confident that their votes will be relevant, and force politicians to speak to their concerns...
Nevertheless, third parties will still be free to nominate their own candidates for office, if they feel that the mainstream candidates do not sufficiently represent their platforms. In fact, lesser-known candidates will greatly benefit from the increased visibility and importance third parties gain from fusion voting...
Such a system will even be advantageous for the Democrats and Republicans. At least initially, fusion voting will strengthen the two-party system, allowing the establishment parties to garner votes that might otherwise go to candidates with no hope of winning. In return, mainstream campaigns will be forced to speak to difficult local and regional issues instead of safely spouting the hackneyed political fare that they are used...
...some arenas, such as New York’s historically torpid political milieu, fusion voting has provided a much needed shot in the arm. Once-marginalized parties such as the Working Families Party, the Conservative Party, and the Independence Party have become forces in local and statewide elections. In a few important races where they cross-endorsed a mainstream candidate, votes under their aegis even proved decisive. Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), for example, was nominated by both the Democratic and Working Families parties in 2000, and a significant chunk of her votes came under the latter banner...