Cross-endorsement
From dKosopedia
Cross-endorsement allows a candidate for a given elected position to appear on the ballot once for each party that has endorsed him or her. Although a given voter may not choose the candidate more than once, the voter's ability to choose the party associated with the candidate gives the voter, and the party, an additional voice.
The following sample is taken from a group favoring initiative 2 on the Massachusetts 2006 ballot.
A sample ballot might look like this: Major Party1...............Waffling Wally.....................48% Major Party2...............Steady Sue.........................42% Good Jobs Party............Steady Sue.........................10% where Steady Sue wins with 52%. Because she sees that 10% of her vote came from the Good Jobs Party, she’ll have to prioritize that issue.
Cross-endorsement is promoted as a way to allow third parties to have a voice without acting as spoilers. However, in Willington, CT, a candidate was cross-endorsed by the Republican and Democratic parties.
There are also proponents of instant runoff voting (among them Jill Stein, 2006 Green Party candidate for Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts) who worry that adoption of cross-endorsement will blunt the demand for IRV.
Links
- Working Families Party's explanation of cross-endorsement with an example
- Massachusetts 2006 ballot
- Cross-endorsement in Willington, CT election