How To Get Involved With Political Parties
- Conservative Party
- Democratic Party
- Democratic Socialists of America
- Green Party
- Libertarian Party
- Republican Party
- Working Families Party
Political parties are one of the main ways for individuals to organize and connect to the government. In forming and participating in parties, groups with aligned interests can work together toward exercising power within government structures and institutions. By developing policy platforms and organizing voter outreach, parties can also facilitate voter decision-making. Opposing parties also hold each other accountable for their members’ actions when they hold positions in government.
One criticism of our current system is that well-funded special interest groups have outsize influence on our major parties and elected officials. One solution to this problem is in strengthening diverse political parties that can engage office seekers with individuals instead of special interest groups.
The American “first past the post” system incentivizes two major parties vying to create 50%+1 coalitions in each district for every level of government. Only one person can win in each district, so citizens tend to vote for the most popular party candidates to ensure that the worst option does not gain power. In New York, however, fusion-voting rules allow third parties to cross endorse major party candidates, avoiding the role of spoiler. These rules allows third parties to influence local and state governance more than in other states within the United States system. Examples of this are Working Families Party on the left and the Conservative Party on the right.
