The Presidential Race Could Use a Third Party—But Not a Third Candidate

Lee Drutman and Beau Tremitiere wrote in the Bulwark on No Labels and how fusion could solve the the spoiler problem.

Fusion voting is a proven way for third parties to elevate priorities, elect winners, and influence policy. In the mid-1800s, third parties committed to abolishing slavery used their nominations to support like-minded major party candidates to advance their cause. Their efforts led to the formation and ascendance of the Republican party, which guided the Union to victory in the Civil War and secured ratification of the Reconstruction Amendments.

Decades later, third parties representing working class voters used fusion voting to secure support for basic labor protections and antitrust regulations from officials in both major parties. In some places, they aligned with Democrats to challenge corporatist Republican rule; elsewhere, they worked with Republicans to oust despotic Jim Crow Democrats.

Because fusion voting allowed third parties to play such an important role, major parties outlawed it in most states at the turn of the twentieth century. Yet, in states where it is still allowed, fusion has remained a pragmatic and effective way for third parties to influence politics. Both Franklin Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan won New York’s electoral votes thanks to voters from third parties; JFK would have lost the state and the presidency to Nixon in 1960 but for the votes he received on a third party line. Even today, New York has two influential minor parties, the Working Families and Conservative parties, which primarily cross-nominate and earn hundreds of thousands of votes every election.