Honorable Andrea Stewart-Cousins
Temporary President and Majority Leader
Legislative Office Building, Room 907
Albany, New York 12247
Dear Senator Stewart-Cousins:
We write with concern about recent reports regarding Democratic leaders supporting a ban on New York’s system
of fusion voting. Abolishing fusion would be a mistake for the Democratic Party and for New York's democracy as a
whole.
For more than a century, the New York fusion system has allowed voters to express their values without spoiling
close races. Across the country, Democratic elected leaders are championing measures that strengthen voting rights and
democracy. Limiting voter choice by banning fusion would move our state in the wrong direction.
Furthermore, abolishing fusion would weaken a key ally of the Democratic coalition, the Working Families Party
(WFP). The WFP played a pivotal role in securing our current Democratic majority. It has been a close partner in
efforts to increase the minimum wage, achieve paid family leave, and reform the Rockefeller Drug Laws.
In many areas of the state, the presence of a WFP line has been a boon to Democratic candidates. It allows
independent or disaffected voters who ordinarily would not vote on the Democratic line to cast a vote for the
Democratic nominee. A fusion ban could threaten Democratic elected officials and candidates running in marginal
districts, making it harder to build on our recent gains in future election cycles.
For these reasons, we join with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, seventeen
Members of Congress, and more than 340 New York elected officials in opposing any attempts to abolish New York's
fusion voting system. We have attached their letters of opposition.
Instead of abolishing fusion, we should improve the current fusion voting system to sidestep logistical challenges
and address the concerns of the system's critics.
However, you may feel about fusion voting, one thing we should all be able to agree on is that the debate should be
untethered from state budget negotiations. The policy debate is too important to New York voters to be left to the 11th
hour.
We hope you will keep these views in mind in the final weeks of the state budget process.
Sincerely,
Jessica Ramos
Senator
13th Senate District

 Brian Benjamin
Senator
30th Senate District

John Liu
Senator
11th Senate District

Julia Salazar
Senator
18th Senate District

Alessandra Biaggi
Senator
34th Senate District

Rachel May
Senator
52rd Senate District

James Sanders
Senator
10th Senate District

Neil Breslin
Senator
44th Senate District

Shelley Mayer
Senator
37th Senate District

Jose Serrano
Senator
29th Senate District

Andrew Gounardes
Senator
22nd Senate District

Jen Metzger
Senator
42nd Senate District

James Skoufis
Senator
39th Senate District

Peter Harckham
Senator
40th Senate District

Velmanette Montgomery
Senator
25th Senate District

Toby Anne Stavisky
Senator
16th Senate District

Brad Hoylman
Senator
27th Senate District

Zellnor Myrie
Senator
20th Senate District

Brian Kavanagh
Senator
26th Senate District

Robert Jackson
Senator
31st Senate District

Roxanne Persaud
Senator
19th Senate District

James T. Bailey
Senator
26th Senate District

Liz Krueger
Senator
28th Senate District

Gustavo Rivera
Senator
33rd Senate District

David Carlucci
Senator
28th Senate District
Timothy Kennedy
Senator
63rd Senate District