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The Fulcrum

Biden’s exit and the dysfunction of U.S. politics

In a historic turn of events, Democratic Party leaders made a show of strength by coming together to urge President Joe Biden to exit the race for the White House. The move gave us a rare glimpse of what a functioning political party can do. One way to create incentives for more and healthier parties is through fusion voting. Fusion voting, in which different parties can cross-nominate the same candidate on their own ballot line, is one such reform.

The New Republic

What Is “Fusion Voting”? Just a Way to Save the Country, That’s All

William Kristol and Daniel Cantor, a neo-conservative and a social democrat who are ideological opposites, explain why they’ve joined forces. “What unites us,” they write, “is the understanding that our government is failing because politics is failing….What’s needed is a practical and achievable reform that pushes back against the hyperpartisan polarization that makes politics both juvenile and destructive.”

The Bulwark

The Power of Fusion to Fix Our Dysfunctional Politics

Daniel Cantor, a co-founder of the Working Families Party and advisor to CBF, writes about a talk he gave at this year’s Principles First conference in Washington. Speaklng before some 700 “principled conservatives,” he noted, was not something he did much in his long career on the social democratic left. But now, he said, “I’m more interested in building bridges than barricades. The only way to defeat authoritarianism is with an electoral coalition that includes the center-right.”

The Forge

Abolition, Fusion, and the Value of a Multi-Party Democracy

Delvone Michael, senior strategist with the Working Families Party, describes how fusion voting was utilized by Abolitionists before and after the Civil War, arguing that it can strengthen third parties and address the shortcomings of the current two-party system. To learn more, see Liberty Power: Antislavery Third Parties and the Transformation of American Politics by Corey Brooks, Black and White: Land, Labor, and Politics in the South, by T. Thomas Fortune, and The Negro and Fusion Politics in North Carolina by Helen G. Edmonds.

Insider NJ

Clearing Up the Confusion Around Fusion

Columnist John Van Vliet recaps the recent Princeton conference on reviving fusion in New Jersey, where state courts are currently in the process of deciding the NJ Moderate Party’s lawsuit seeking to undo the state’s long ban on the practice. He notes the broad spectrum of support: “How many issues can say that they have the support of former Governor Christine Todd Whitman, five former members of Congress (two Republicans and two Democrats, including former House Majority Leader Richard Gephardt), the ACLU of New Jersey, the Cato Institute, the Rainey Center and the Libertarian Party?”

Newsweek

The Presidential Election Needs More Parties, Not More Candidates

Tom Rogers, editor-at-large, warns that a glut of independent presidential candidates running in 2024 could wreak havoc, spelling “trouble for the effort to sustain a broad coalition unified in support of democracy and the rule of law.” Instead, he argues “we should allow minor parties to cross-nominate one of the two competitive, major party candidates,” freeing voters from a false binary choice and creating incentives for more inter-party collaboration.

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