Two Oregon Democratic Representatives have introduced HB 3297. It would change Oregon ballots, for candidates who have the nomination of more than one party. Under current law, when a candidate is the nominee of more than one party, that candidate is only listed once on the general election ballot. The candidate’s name is followed by the names of all parties that have nominated him or her.
The bill would provide that when a candidate has the nomination of more than one party, his or her name would be listed separately for each party. This would give general election voters a choice of which party to support.
United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 555 will be pushing this bill to restore this version of fusion voting in Oregon
Oregon was one of the slowest to ban fusion voting and one of the first to bring it back in its current form.
Six years ago, the Independent Party sued to challenge the fusion ban, and a coalition of minor parties, unions and other progressive political groups brought forward a bill that brought back a limited version of fusion, dubbed cross-fusion. The Independent Party and Working Families Party have primarily been the only parties to utilize it, but it allows minor parties to exert more influence over a legislator than a simple endorsement.
According to the Secretary of State’s voter registration numbers from December 2014, more than a third of all voters are not affiliated with any party. Many of these people are really disillusioned with the system and unhappy with both of the major parties. This version of Fusion voting is a step toward rebuilding some faith in our political system and making a more participatory democracy.
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
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