I testified in support of fusion voting on behalf of the Independent Party at an interim committee hearing of the Senate Committee on Rules and Elections today.

Senator Brad Avakian spoke in favor of his introduction of the measure first, followed by Barb Dudley, a professor at Portland State University who is co-chair of the Working Families Party of Oregon.

Our current system, or any system in which 3rd party candidates are primarily relegated to the role of spoiler, is broken. We believe that it is contributing to voter apathy, the disillusionment of voters toward the legislature, and the disillusionment of voters toward both major political parties. ...

Fusion voting offers us a different way of moving forward.

Rather than locking minor parties out of the political process, Fusion gives them an opportunity to collaborate with the major political parties on a platform and agenda that strengthens all sides while encouraging candidates to reach out to minor political parties and to win their nomination.

Read my full testimony below the fold

Madame Chair, distinguished Senators,

My name is Sal Peralta. I am speaking here today on behalf of the Independent Party.

The Independent Party began in response to legislation passed in 2005 that made it more difficult to get on the ballot as an independent candidate here in Oregon.

The party was formed after citizen activists collected 26,000 signatures during 2006. The Independent Party of Oregon was officially recognized by Oregon’s Secretary of State in January, 2007. Its primary mission is to provide ballot access to Independent candidates, and to help enfranchise Oregon’s 400,000 non-affiliated and Independent voters.

During the last year, the Independent party has welcomed 10,000 new members. We are the only political party to gain members in Oregon during 2007. We have attracted both civic and community leaders including former Eugene Mayor, Jim Torrey; former NEA director, John Frohnmayer; US Congressman, Jim Weaver; and others.

I would like to congratulate this committee for giving thought to implementing a system of fusion voting here in Oregon.

The Independent Party strongly endorses fusion.

As someone who is involved in the recruitment of Independent candidates, I can say unequivocally that the party would prefer to fuse with the major political parties in support of independent-minded candidates, rather than running the risk of spoiling the election for one or the other major parties. We do not believe that our members, nor the voters of this state, nor our system of representative government, is well-served if the only role for Independents is that of spoiler.

Our current system, or any system in which 3rd party candidates are primarily relegated to the role of spoiler, is broken. We believe that it is contributing to voter apathy, the disillusionment of voters toward the legislature, and the disillusionment of voters toward both major political parties.

A poll published by the Oregonian in December, 2007, indicated that only 30 percent of Oregonians hold a favorable impression of the state legislature. That’s the lowest level of satisfaction ever given for such a survey.

A July Gallup Poll commissioned by USA Today indicated that 57 percent of Americans do not feel well represented by either major political party.

Underlying this is a deeper issue. The problem is not that political parties do a poor job of advocating for citizens. The problem is that people do not feel well-represented by our current system of elections.

In some ways, it’s easy to see why.

In Oregon, fewer than 10 out of 75 legislative races during any given election cycle are actually competitive races between the two major parties.

Given the relative lack of participation by voters during the primary season, many general election outcomes are determined by the fewer than 15 percent of voters who choose the winning candidate in a partisan primary.

When you overlay that with Oregon’s 60 percent voter registration, it becomes clear that in a majority of districts, 10 percent of the voting-age population is choosing the winning legislative candidate in nearly 90 percent of the races.

The result, we believe, is a deepening polarization of politics in Oregon. There is a hardening of positions, and a campaign season that extends throughout the legislative session. We believe that this contributes to the disenfranchisement of many voters in Oregon, and contributes to public apathy with regard to our political process.

So let’s take a closer look at this spoiler issue.

Spoiler candidates have caused the defeat of Republican nominees for Governor twice in the last 20 years. In 1990, Al Mobley picked up nearly 13 percent of the vote in a three-way race for Governor, helping Barbara Roberts to get elected (over Dave Frohnmayer) with 45 percent of the vote. In 2002, Tom Cox picked up 4.5 percent of the vote, helping Governor Kulongoski to defeat Kevin Mannix 49 - 46. Current polling suggests that John Frohnmayer may draw between 15 and 25 percent of the vote in the race for U.S. Senate, running on the Independent Party ticket.

During the 2006 election, 3rd party candidates were recruited to run in several contested state legislative races. In House races, there were 2 candidates who ran as Greens, 4 candidates from the Constitution party, and 10 Libertarians. In total, 3rd party candidates were present in 16 out of 30 races.

We believe that spoilers played a role in as many as 1/4th of those races.
The pattern was similar in 2004. Spoiler candidates probably played a role in Democrats taking House Districts 32 and 35, and nearly tipped the balance in House Districts 50 and 54.

In an era where we have an evenly divided house, one can easily make the case that the balance has been tipped as the result of 3rd party spoiler candidates.

The traditional way that the major parties have addressed the spoiler issue has been to pass laws to make it more difficult to put spoiler candidates on the ballot or to make it less attractive for voters to pick someone who might be a spoiler. So in 2005, the law was changed to make it more difficult for independent candidates to get on the ballot, and a law was passed saying that independent candidates could only be listed on the ballot as non-affiliated, not independent.

Fusion voting offers us a different way of moving forward.

Rather than locking minor parties out of the political process, Fusion gives them an opportunity to collaborate with the major political parties on a platform and agenda that strengthens all sides while encouraging candidates to reach out to minor political parties and to win their nomination.

Instead of recruiting spoiler candidates, fusion creates an incentive for minor parties to recruit candidates who are palatable to a broader segment of the population, and encourages such candidates to reach out and to win multiple nominations.

Fusion also helps to differentiate candidates in the minds of voters. A Republican candidate who also represents the Constitution Party on its ballot line will be viewed differently than a Republican with a ballot line for the Libertarians or Independents.

We can see how strategically, candidates can align with one or more minor political parties in an effort to broaden their appeal. This movement represents an opportunity to increase voter participation, and could serve to improve voter attitudes towards both major political parties and their candidates.

Finally, fusion voting gives us a new tool for measuring the marketplace of ideas coming out of a campaign. The strength of showing for a minor political party, particularly an ideological one like the libertarians, working families, greens, or constitution party can help us to better gauge the kind of mandate that a candidate is elected with.

A candidate who draws 25 percent of his support from a libertarian ballot line probably has a different kind of mandate than a candidate who is not on the libertarian ballot line, or who is on the ballot line for one of the other minor political parties.

In summary, the Independent Party of Oregon supports fusion voting as a vehicle to encourage collaboration between major and minor political parties, to reduce instances of spoiler campaigns, and to help increase voter participation in, and satisfaction with, Oregon’s system of elections and Oregon government.

Thank you for holding this hearing, and for taking the time to listen to my comments. With your permission, I would like to provide additional background information that might be helpful to the committee.

Thank you.