The New York State legislature, in its final hours of budget negotiations, agreed to empower a new commission to change our election laws. This commission could end the practice of “fusion voting” in this state—a practice which imperils the independence of our judiciary.

In New York state a political party which receives 50,000 votes on its line in a gubernatorial election automatically has ballot access in the next four general elections. After last year’s election for governor, our electorate gave ballot access to a total of eight different political parties. We no longer have the “Right to Life” or “Woman’s Equality “or “Stop Common Core” or “Tax Cut Now” parties in ballot positions, but we have added the “Libertarian Party of New York“ and the “Serve America Movement” party lines.