In a recent opinion piece, columnist Douglas Rooks argues that Vermont’s “fusion voting” is somehow better than ranked-choice voting (“A better way than ranked-choice voting,” Nov. 9). He is not only wrong, he creates a false choice between these two electoral mechanics. Fusion is a mechanic that allows Vermont candidates to appear with multiple parties next to their name. Last year, I was one of those Vermont Progressive Party, or VPP, fusion candidates Rooks mentioned: I am a Progressive, but also earned the endorsement of the Democratic Party.
In Vermont, the VPP is a major party that has held seats in the Legislature continuously since 1991, and two of Vermont’s statewide officeholders identify as Progressives. Electoral fusion is not the primary reason that the VPP has become as successful as it has, despite how the party’s tactics have shifted over the years. I should also point out that the VPP has always supported changing all our state’s elections to ranked-choice voting.
While fusion might prevent vote-splitting when Progressives run and win in Democratic primaries (like several Progressives have done), it still doesn’t prevent the spoiler effect. Further, it does not incentivize parties to become more representative of their constituents — it causes them to entrench. In my own election, establishment Democrats actively worked against me.
Further, fusion voting does not change the mechanics of the winner being decided by a plurality of Mainers. As someone who has published research about elections, I know that scholars agree that plurality voting is one of the worst possible electoral systems. Ranked-choice voting, on the other hand, allows voters to express much more information about their preferences and helps to elect the candidate who has the widest possible support.
I strongly endorse Maine’s step in the direction of a better electoral system: ranked-choice voting. It’s not perfect, but it’s provably better than what Mainers currently have.
Jeremy Hansen is an associate professor of computer science at Norwich University and the vice chairman of the Berlin, Vermont, selectboard.
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