On July 5, Connecticut SB 1311 was signed into law. It makes many election law changes. Among them, it expands fusion (“fusion” is the ability of two parties to jointly nominate the same candidate). Fusion has always been legal in Connecticut.

However, since 1981, fusion has only been legal between two qualified parties. Connecticut has two types of qualified parties, major parties and minor parties. Major parties are those which polled 20% for Governor in the last election, or which have registration equal to 20% of the last gubernatorial vote. Qualified minor parties are those that polled 1% for any particular office in the last election. “Qualified status” in Connecticut is office by office, so most minor parties, like the Green and Libertarian Parties, are qualified for some offices but not others.

SB 1311 says that an unqualified party can also participate in fusion, if it is already qualified for at least one office that is on the ballot that year. Thus, since the Libertarian and Green Parties are qualified for some statewide state offices, they can engage in fusion in 2010 (when those offices will next be on the ballot) for every office in the state.

The Working Families Party did the difficult work of getting this expansion of fusion into law. This is the first time in at least 70 years that any state has expanded fusion. Fusion was once legal in all states, but it has been shrinking over the years. It was partially restricted in New York in 1947, virtually banned in California in 1959, substantially restricted by Pennsylvania in 1985, and wiped out in Arkansas and South Dakota in 1997.