Fusion voting was once legal in Wisconsin but was outlawed — because it works.
WHY: United Wisconsin advocates for “re-legalizing” fusion voting because it would give voters a meaningful voice in election outcomes once again. Indeed, in Wisconsin — the “purplest of purple states” — more parties, empowered by fusion voting, could swing elections so voters have a say in their government again. Fusion voting is a structural political reform that would strengthen Wisconsin’s traditional democratic system of government.
WHEN: In April 2025, United Wisconsin, represented by Law Forward, filed a suit against the Wisconsin Elections Commission, asking the court to declare Wisconsin’s law barring fusion voting unconstitutional. In June 2026, The Libertarian Party of Wisconsin and Wisconsin Working Families Party came together to support United Wisconsin’s lawsuit. We will post updates on our case as we have them.
THE LAWSUIT: Law Forward describes the suit as follows: “The Wisconsin Constitution guarantees its citizens the right to freedom of speech and association, the promise of a free government, and the certainty of equal protection under the law. The ban on fusion voting violates each of those guarantees. For example, the ban prevents political parties from associating with certain candidates on ballots, and it puts voters in a bind, where associating with political parties that match their views necessarily risks spoiling elections. The ban violates the bedrock guarantee of equal protection by uniquely harming minor and newer political parties, as well as the citizens whose interests those parties represent, while strengthening the Democratic and Republican parties—at the expense of all Wisconsinites. And the ban undermines free government by distorting our politics, narrowing electoral options, and perpetuating an artificial duopoly that strangles true representation.”