The July 6 issue of the Daily Emerald has this editorial, endorsing SB 326. The bill eases ballot access for independent candidates, and also legalizes fusion. The Daily Emerald is the daily newspaper for the University of Oregon at Eugene.
SB 326 was sent to the Governor on July 1. He has two months to sign or veto it.
FUSION – Why bother?
Wow, a Democrat or Republican got the endorsement of the Greens or the Libertarians etc. It means nothing. The major party candidate is still fully owned by the campaign dollars of the unions and-or corporations.
Fusion changed nothing in New York. Oregon needs Proportional Representation for true democracy. Not until Green Party or Libertarians sit as fully elected legislators will there be real change.
Don’t forget, fusion works the other way also. Sometimes a minor party member can get not only the minor party’s nomination, but the nomination of a major party as well. That is how Libertarian Party members won 4 seats in the New Hampshire legislature in 1992, and 2 in 1994, and also one in Vermont in 1998. The minor party member/activists won major party nominations along with their own party’s nomination.
The minor parties could also form a “coalition” of sorts for any given race with fusion.
More editorial in favor of the bill are posted at http://www.indparty.com.
The deadline for the Governor to sign or veto the bill is August 7.