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1 Testimony of Lauren E. Miller, Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, before the Oregon Legislative Assembly, House Committee on Rules, re: Oregon House Bill 3593, April 6, 2023 1 (2023)

handle is hein.brennan/tmyolnemr0001 and id is 1 raw text is: BRENNAN CENTER Testimony of Lauren E. Miller, Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law Before the Oregon Legislative Assembly, House Committee on Rules RE: Oregon House Bill 3593 April 6, 2023 On behalf of the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law,1 I write to provide testimony on how House Bill 3593, which disaggregates the state's fusion voting system, would strengthen important free speech benefits for Oregon voters. Fusion allows third party voters to meaningfully participate in the electoral process without sacrificing their political beliefs. Fusion voting, also referred to as cross-endorsement or open-ballot voting, allows multiple parties to nominate the same candidate for the same office in a general election.2 Generally, the two major parties nominate different candidates, while third parties may cross-endorse one of the major party candidates, fuse with other minor parties, or run a candidate without any cross- endorsements. Take the Brennan Center's home state of New York, for example; under the state's fusion system, Governor Kathy Hochul appeared on the ballot for both the Democratic Party and the Working Families Party in the 2022 gubernatorial election.3 Her opponent, Lee Zeldin, appeared on both the Republican Party and Conservative Party ticket.4 1 The Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law is a nonpartisan public policy and law institute that works to strengthen the systems of democracy and justice so that they work for all Americans. I am counsel in the Brennan Center's Democracy Program, which among other issues focuses on voting rights and election administration. My testimony does not purport to convey the views, if any, of the New York University School of Law. 2 Fusion voting takes place during the general election and does not directly impact the primary process; in a primary election under fusion, the candidate with the most votes on each party's ballot still becomes that party's nominee. J.J. Gass and Adam Morse, More Choices, More Voices: A Primer on Fusion, Brennan Center for Justice, October 2, 2006, h LC \ sion. This testimony does not pertain to jurisdictions that use other electoral systems, such as nonpartisan elections or ranked choice voting in general elections. 3 New York has two prominent third parties: the Working Families Party, which often endorses Democratic candidates, and the Conservative Party, which generally supports Republicans. For more details on New York's rich history of fusion voting, see Gass and Morse, More Choices, More Voices; Howard A. Scarrow, Duverger's Law, Fusion, and the Decline of American 'Third' Parties, The Western Political Quarterly 39, no. 4 (December 1986): 635, 10 _ and Melissa R. Michelson and Scott J. Susin, What's in a Name: The Power of Fusion Politics in a Local Election, Polity 36, no. 2 (January 2004): 304, 4 Kate Lisa, Surge in support secures ballot lines for Working Families, Conservative parties, Spectrum News 1, November 10, 2022, hm li v t z- double--onsrvaiv s-un-2-sinc-2018. 1

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