Connecticut allows fusion, and the Working Families Party and the Independent Party have put fusion to good use in that state. In 2016 both parties made significant gains in voter support.

The Connecticut Working Families Party polled 5.51% for U.S. Senate. It had nominated the Democratic nominee, Richard Blumenthal, and Blumenthal received 87,948 votes under the WFP label. This election was the first time the WFP had polled over 5% of the vote in a statewide election in any state (not counting races in which the Republican Party didn’t run anyone, which occurred for Massachusetts Auditor in 2006 and Oregon Attorney General in 2008).

The WFP also polled 5.81% of the Connecticut vote for U.S. House (in the four districts in which it had a nominee), its best statewide showing ever for that office. In those four districts it had nominated the Democratic nominee. In one district it had no nominee.

The Independent Party, which almost entirely nominates persons who are also Republican nominees, didn’t have any statewide nominees in 2016. But for State House, it appeared on the ballot in a majority of the districts, something no other party, other than the Democratic and Republican Parties, has done in Connecticut in at least 100 years. Even the Socialist Party, which elected legislators in Connecticut in the 1930’s, did not have nominees in a majority of House districts during that decade. As a result of having so many nominees, the Independent Party got more cumulative votes for each house of the legislature than the Working Families Party did. The Independent Party got 3.87% of the State Senate vote in the districts it contested, and 4.64% of the House vote in the districts it contested.

The Working Families Party has been running for legislature in Connecticut starting in 2002, and for congress since 2004. The Independent Party has done so starting in 2008. Both parties nominate by convention, not primary. In October 2016, the Independent Party had 21,216 registered members and the Working Families Party had 323 registrants. The WFP does not encourage its supporters to register into the WFP; the WFP prefers that they register as Democrats so that they can vote for WFP-prefered Democrats in the Democratic primary.

On January 10, Indiana State Senator Greg Walker (R-Columbus) introduced SB 418, which lowers the statewide petition for independent candidates, and the nominees of unqualified parties, from 2% of the last Secretary of State vote to exactly 9,000 signatures. The current requirement is 26,700, but that is lower than the normal requirement because 2014 had an especially lower turnout. Here is the text. Most years over the past 30 years, the requirement has been between 32,000 and 38,000.

Indiana is one of only four states in which Ralph Nader never appeared on the ballot.

The bill also raises the number of signatures needed to put a major party member on a primary ballot (for statewide office) from 4,500 to 9,000. Thanks to Craig Marolf for the news.

Last month, the Independent Party became a ballot-qualified party in Louisiana. It became a party by showing that over 1,000 voters are registered as members of the party, and by the state officers paying a filing fee of $1,000. The Independent Party has no connection to any third party in any other state. It is a centrist party. See this story. Thanks to Randall Hayes for the link.

The Independent Party of California tried to do exactly the same thing in California, but the California Secretary of State refused to even tell the California county election officials to provide a tally of how many Californians are registered in the Independent Party.