Rewriting New York’s election laws via a special commission is looking ever more ridiculous — and dangerous.

The commission’s latest move was a vote Tuesday to prohibit public matching funds for campaign donations raised outside of individual Senate and Assembly Districts. This, as NY1’s Zack Fink reported, comes just a week after the nine-member Public Finance Reform Commission voted in favor of matching out-of-district contributions.

If they don’t flip-flop again, the restriction would leave most campaigns still relying overwhelmingly on non-taxpayer funds. (Or maybe not: See below.)

The jury’s still out on whether it will try to end fusion voting — whereby minor parties like the Working Families Party endorse major-party candidates. The issue is so fraught the Legislature is prepared to return for a rare special session in December to potentially reject that change.

If lawmakers don’t vote to reject the commission’s proposals before year’s end, they supposedly become law immediately. It’s a cockamamie process, and no way to remake the entire way New York elects its officials, however you come down on the specifics.

“It’s a sham,” as Senate Minority Leader John Flanagan puts it, “a hoodwinking of the public in so many different ways, shapes and forms.” With Democrats in firm control of both chambers, they should’ve been able to actually write the new laws, not just set aside $100 million for public campaign funding.

Plus, this have-a-commission-write-the-law gimmick is a proven failure. Just a year ago, a similar commission hiked legislators’ pay — from $79,500 to $110,000 this year, headed to $130,000 in 2021 — while severely limiting their outside earnings. But court challenges have tossed the outside-income cap, and probably the out-year raises, too — though the legal battles are still running.

Uncertainty over legislative pay has only limited impact. But imagine the chaos when basic rules for campaign funding and party endorsements are up in the air for most of the year, with court rulings shifting the fundamentals from month to month.

Lawmakers are elected to, yes, make laws. By handing that duty off to outsiders, the leaders of the Legislature are only adding new layers of dysfunction.

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