Open Ballot Voting - Our (not so) Secret Weapon

The vast majority of us share progressive values and want more affordable health care, a higher minimum wage, and better schools - but real change is hard to come by.

We've built a party for working people and their children. Many people think that building a new party is too hard, that their only real choice is for "the lesser of two evils."

Those concerns are right on target. Except in states like New York with open ballot voting.

New York is one of the only states in the nation in which minor parties play a major role. That's because it is one of two states in which "open ballot" voting is both legal and common.

If you ask people to vote for candidates with no chance of winning - and by definition third party candidates have almost no chance of winning - they will wonder if you think they are stupid. "You mean you want me to waste my vote on someone who, if they're lucky will get 2 or 3 percent just to make a point?" (The "Wasted Vote" problem). Or, "won't voting for that third party candidate, who is the best of the bunch, end up helping the candidate who is the worst of the bunch?" (The "Spoiler" problem). That's where open ballot voting comes in.

Open Ballot Voting Explained

Open Ballot Voting, also called "cross-endorsement", allows two or more parties to nominate the same candidate on separate ballot lines. Candidates' vote totals on each ballot line are added together to determine the overall winner. Open ballot voting is our secret weapon - a key part of our strategy.

Once legal and commonly practiced in all states, open ballot voting is now legal only in New York, Connecticut, Delaware, South Carolina, Mississippi, South Dakota and Vermont. In other states, it was banned around the turn of the century after the Populists used the cross endorsement system to build a powerful alliance of small farmers and industrial workers.

When we have a chance to run our own candidate and win, we do so. Races in which we're not strong enough to run one of our own, we look to support a good candidate of another party. That candidate will run on more than one ballot line and voters can choose to vote on the line that best represents their views. Think of it as a "protest vote that counts." If the WFP gets a good percentage of votes on its line, it sends a strong message about the importance of our issues.

Take a look at this sample ballot:

As you can see, voters can vote for John Kerry and Chuck Schumer on Row B (the Democratic Line) or Row E (the Working Families Party line). Either vote counts equally toward their total, but votes on the WFP line send a more specific message about the importance of the issues that matter most to working families.

(More sample ballots are here.)

How Open Ballot Voting Can Work

In the spring of 2001, Bill Lindsay, president of IBEW Local 25, ran for County Legislature in a Suffolk County special election. He was endorsed by both the Democratic and Working Families parties.

When the election results were tabulated, Lindsay had won a narrow victory. The final breakdown of Lindsay's win was 50.6% to 49.4% - with the WFP producing 3% of Lindsay's vote. The WFP was the margin of victory.

The purpose of Working Families' votes is to show politicians that people support working families' issues. Concurrently with the Lindsay election, we were fighting for "living wage" legislation in Suffolk County, which would require companies receiving County money to pay their workers $10 an hour. Every member of the Republican controlled County Legislature noticed the WFP's role in the Lindsay victory. They were soon up for reelection themselves and realized the importance of appealing to our voters. So, they decided to pass the bill.

The WFP bill in Suffolk was the first countywide living wage law enacted in New York State. And it was the first in the country to pass in a Republican-controlled legislature. Because of open ballot voting, we could provide the margin of victory, and that meant we were able to force elected officials to address an issue that affected thousands of Long Island workers.

Open ballot voting is our secret weapon, allowing us to build a viable third party that is not plagued by the "spoiler" problem or the "wasted vote" problem. But, there are no short cuts. Changing the political landscape, winning real victories for working people and building actual political power is not easy. There's a lot of work involved - we need to recruit a membership and activist base, articulate our vision, help elect candidates, hold them accountable, raise money, and invest it in more organizing. Our strategy is to be issue based, to start small, think long term, take advantage of the electoral moment to voice our opinion, and continue grassroots organizing year round. We hope you'll join us.

To read about more WFP victories, click here

To read about the history of open ballot voting, click here.

To read about open ballot voting in states beyond New York, click here.

To see recent open ballots, click here.