American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

politics, cross-filing (similar to the concept of

electoral fusion Electoral fusion is an arrangement where two or more political parties on a ballot list the same candidate, pooling the votes for that candidate. It is distinct from the process of electoral alliances in that the political parties remain separa ...

) occurs when a candidate runs in the

primary election Primary elections, or direct primary are a voting process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election. Depending on the ...

of not only their own party, but also that of one or more other parties, generally in the hope of reducing or eliminating their competition at the general election. It was in effect in

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

from 1913 to 1959, when it was abolished, and has been used in other states, most significantly in New York and

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

, where it is still in effect. In New York the main candidates are usually the Democratic and Republican nominees, and the support of various minor parties is demonstrated by winning their nomination as well. For example, Republican nominees often attempt to win the nomination of the

Conservative Party of New York The Conservative Party of New York State is an American political party founded in 1962 following conservative dissatisfaction with the Republican Party in New York. Running on the Conservative Party line, James L. Buckley won election to the U ...

as well. One rare exception was in 1944, where New York Congressman Vito Marcantonio was successful in winning both the Republican and Democratic Party primaries, assuring his re-election.

Cross-filing in California elections, 1913-1959

In 1909, California introduced the direct primary election in its elections. The state's requirement that candidates in primary elections certify that they had supported a particular party in the previous general election was struck down by the California Supreme Court in 1909, in a case involving the

Socialist Party of America The Socialist Party of America (SPA) was a socialist political party in the United States formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party of Ameri ...

. While the

California State Legislature The California State Legislature is a bicameral state legislature consisting of a lower house, the California State Assembly, with 80 members; and an upper house, the California State Senate, with 40 members. Both houses of the Legislatu ...

attempted to institute a looser test in 1911, by 1913, there was no longer any restriction on candidates filing in multiple primaries. The cross-filing provision was added to a previously debated primary bill by members of the administration of Governor Hiram Johnson, who had previously run (on separate occasions) as a Republican and with the Progressive Party. In 1917 and 1919, the legislature barred a candidate who lost his own party's nomination from running as a member of any other party, and allowed the state committee of the affected party to fill any vacancies on their ticket. In combination with statutes that placed the incumbent first on the ballot and designated him by his title, these ballot rules gave a heavy advantage to incumbents. In 1946, Governor

Earl Warren Earl Warren (March 19, 1891 – July 9, 1974) was an American attorney, politician, and jurist who served as the 14th Chief Justice of the United States from 1953 to 1969. The Warren Court presided over a major shift in American constitutio ...

, eight other state officials, twelve of the state's twenty-three U.S. representatives, and approximately three-quarters of incumbent state legislators seeking re-election were elected by winning both major primaries through cross-filing. In 1948, US Representative

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

, facing no Republican primary opponent, cross-filed and defeated Stephen Zetterberg in the Democratic primary. In 1952, incumbent Republican US Senator William Knowland won the nomination of both parties. This marked the low point of post-war Democratic political fortunes in California, and brought into sharp focus the results of cross-filing. Though the majority of California voters were registered Democrats, there had only been one Democratic Governor in the 20th century, and Republicans held majorities in both houses of the Legislature and 111 of the 162 elective partisan offices in the state. That same year, the Democrats, with funding from oil millionaire Edwin Pauley, filed a ballot

initiative In political science, an initiative (also known as a popular initiative or citizens' initiative) is a means by which a petition signed by a certain number of registered voters can force a government to choose either to enact a law or hold a ...

to abolish cross-filing. In an attempt to defeat this initiative, the Republican-controlled legislature proposed a competing measure, retaining cross-filing, but requiring candidates to list their party affiliation on all ballots. The Democratic initiative was defeated and the Republican measure won. But thereafter, Republicans running in a Democratic primary would be labeled Republican – a great disadvantage in Democratic districts.Boyarsky, Bill. ''Big Daddy: Jesse Unruh and the Art of Power Politics'' (University of California Press, 2008), Pg. 54 This marked the beginning of the end of cross-filing. 1952 also saw the national defeat of Democratic presidential nominee Adlai Stevenson II. After the election, Stevenson enthusiasts, most of whom were volunteer activists rather than professional politicians, formed the California Democratic Council (CDC). The CDC was a grassroots organization of Democratic clubs, intended to prevent the Republicans from continuing to exploit cross-filing. Cross-filing was finally abolished in California in 1959, after the Democrats swept to power in the 1958 election, with Pat Brown becoming the first Democratic Governor since 1942.

References

{{reflist Political terminology of the United States