Backers press for open party initiative

The proponents of a ballot initiative that would allow open party ballots in Massachusetts say the proposal would engage voters by bringing more independent voices into the political system.

The Mass Ballot Freedom Campaign suggests that the proposal -- Question 2 on the Nov. 7 ballot -- will enable voters to support third-party candidates who have a real chance of winning by allowing independent parties to cross-endorse Democratic or Republican candidates.

But opponents of the proposal say it would make the ballots confusing and would serve only fringe parties.

The initiative would allow a candidate to be nominated by more than one party in general elections, giving independent parties the option of cross-endorsing or running their own candidates.

Cross-endorsing is allowed in seven states, including New York, where it is called fusion voting, and was legal in Massachusetts until 1912.

"What we're really trying to do is restore a right we all once had, which is to operate in a system not limited to two choices in every election," said Ben Healey, a spokesman for the campaign.

Cross-endorsing would make politicians more beholden to the parties that elect them, Healey said. If a candidate sees that 10 percent of his or her votes came from an independent party, he or she might respond to those issues "in a whole new way," Healey said.

Rand Wilson, a long-shot candidate for state auditor and longtime union leader who wants to establish a Working Families Party in Massachusetts, is a key proponent.

Representative Anthony W. Petruccelli, a Democrat from East Boston who chairs the House Committee on Election Laws, said he is not convinced that the measure would lead to more choices or boost involvement in the political process.

"I don't think we should change the structure and appearance of our ballot and make it potentially more confusing to allow more fringe parties to make political statements," he said.

Some independent parties, which the measure is supposed to benefit, oppose the proposal. "We feel like that is just adding checkboxes," said Colby Peterson, spokesman for the Green-Rainbow Party. "It's not adding a distinct choice for voters."

He said his party is interested in electoral change that empowers voters, such as instant runoff voting, which would allow voters to rank their top choices for a political office. And the Green-Rainbow Party likes to run its own candidates, Peterson said.

Last fall, proponents of the open party ballot got 110,000 signatures, enabling them to send the initiative to the Legislature.

The bill never got out of committee, so proponents secured another 20,000 signatures to put it on the ballot.

State Senator Patricia D. Jehlen, a Democrat from Somerville, who introduced the bill, said she thinks it could be a way to get voters tuned back into the political process.

"People say they want to send a message," she said.