Point:Fusion voting gives power to people
Charles Tontar
Eagle-Tribune
Passage of ballot Question 2 would reinstate the open ballot (also known as fusion voting) to Massachusetts. Under this form of voting, a candidate can be endorsed by more than one party and all votes would be counted toward the candidate's total. Up until the late 19th century, this ballot form was utilized throughout the United States and currently is used in seven states, including New York and Vermont.....
Letter: Vote yes on 2
Letter to the Editor, Stoughton Journal
I am writing to urge everyone in Canton to vote YES on Question 2 (www.YesOnQ2.com) on Election Day.
Under a system of "cross-endorsement" voting, third parties will have the option of endorsing a major party's candidate. As it is now, third parties can run only their own candidates and are blocked from endorsing a Democrat or Republican. If Question 2 passes, you might see a major party candidate listed on the ballot more than once - first as the Democratic or Republican candidate, then again as endorsed by a third party.
This voter-friendly style of allowing citizens to vote for a major party candidate through a third party has been available to New Yorkers forever, and used to be legal here in Massachusetts (the great Massachusetts abolitionist Charles Sumner was first elected to the U. S. Senate as the candidate of both the Democratic and Free Soil parties), before it was banned in 1912 when the two major parties sought to strengthen their control of state government.
And so we are left with our current system, where voters who vote for a third party do so with the queasy sense that they're throwing their vote away or, even worse, helping to elect the candidate they least prefer. "Cross-endorsement" offers the opportunity to send a more customized, meaningful message with our vote.
Whatever your political bent, vote YES on Question 2 for opening the political process up to new ideas and honest choice.
Ben Healey
ben@massballotfreedom.com
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