On or before the August 21 deadline, three independent presidential petitions were submitted in New York. The petition for Virgil Goode has approximately 23,000 signatures. The petition for Peta Lindsay of the Party for Socialism and Liberation has approximately 26,500 signatures. The number of signatures for Gary Johnson is approximately 25,500 signatures. The state requires 15,000.
In New York, as in half the states, candidates listed on independent petitions are free to choose a partisan label other than just the word “independent.”
The Green Party is a ballot-qualified party in New York, so did not need to submit a petition. The other three ballot-qualified minor parties in New York are expected to cross-endorse the major party nominees.
No minor party statewide petition has been successfully challenged in New York since 1976, when Eugene McCarthy’s independent presidential petition was challenged. Even in 2004, when Nader was the subject of such hostility, no one challenged his New York petition. However, Nader was on the ballot in two lines in New York state in 2004, so a potential challenge to his petition would still have left him on the ballot. He was the Independence Party’s nominee in New York in 2004, plus he did his own separate petition just in case he didn’t get the Independence Party nomination.
I’m a little bit surprised that the Socialist Workers Party didn’t submit a petition.
I can’t wait to see what the ballot looks like. I wonder if anyone will get squeezed down into some awkward column a la Ralph Nader in 2008.
I predict that all three of them will be placed on the ballot.
Richard, would this be a first for the Constitution Party?
Good for Goode! NY is pretty essential if his campaign wants to be on the ballot in enough states to achieve a 270 electoral vote possibility.
A small bright spot for the Goode campaign!
The only reason the Greens are ballot-qualified is that Howie Hawkins, a member of the Socialist Party, USA ran for Governor as a Green and his campaign got enough votes to keep the GP qualified.
Next time Howie should run as a Socialist to get them ballot-qualified. I’m sure he’ll get tons of Green support.
They have 3 days to challenge ( Friday at 5pm)
w00t w00t this is great news for 3rd parties.
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#1, the Constitution Party last petitioned successfully in New York state for president in 2000. And in 1996, the Right-to-Life Party, which was ballot-qualified, nominated Howard Phillips for President in New York so the Constitution Party didn’t need to petition.
1 & 8) In 1992, the Right To Life Party decided by 2 votes in their nominating committee to name the GOP ticket instead of the Constitution Party candidates.
With O up 58-33 over R in the polls in NY, several thousand voters should feel free to vote for Goode, knowing it will have no impact on the overall result in NY. Having been born and raised there, it’s well known that the city out-votes the rest of the state, so the D’s have a virtual lock on NY. Anytime an R wins a state-wide race, it’s because they are politically farther to the left than a D from NC or Tennessee.
btw, kudos to the hard work put in for the CST. Richard, is there any percentage vote needed to keep the third parties on the ballot for 2016 in NY?
@11 – I believe if a party gets 50,000 votes, they are automatically ballot qualified for two years, which is why the Green Party did not have to petition.
@11 & 12: that is 50,000 votes for Governor, only. Results in the 2012 election will not help get any party on the ballot. The next opportunity is the 2014 NYS gubernatorial election. Parties remain ballot qualified for 4 years, until the next election, when they must pass the 50,000 vote threshold for NYS Governor again.
New York and Indiana are the only states in which it is literally impossible for a group to become a qualified party during a presidential election year. If either Gary Johnson or Virgil Goode were to get 50,000 votes for President this year, either the Libertarian Party or the Constitution Party would be in a fairly good position to challenge the New York definition of “political party.” The Libertarian Party got over 50,000 votes for President in New York in 1980 and in 1981 filed a federal lawsuit, arguing that it is unconstitutional for the state to have no mechanism to recognize a qualified party except in gubernatorial years. But the lawsuit erroneously sued the Secretary of State instead of the State Board of Elections, so the case was dismissed and never re-filed. And in all the 32 years since then, no unqualified party has ever polled at least 50,000 votes for President in New York, so the proposed lawsuit can’t exist because the facts aren’t right. It is true Ross Perot polled over 50,000 votes for President in 1992 under the ballot label “No Party Party” but that label wasn’t really the name of an organized party. But maybe 2012 election results will give a new chance.
In Indiana, a party can maintain ballot access by getting 2% of the Secretary of State vote. The problem is that no child grows up wanting to be a Secretary of State, unless it’s in the Federal Cabinet, and that may be a stretch.
#4 The Greens got their ballot status back in 2010 because Mr. Hawkins is popular in the Green community, because they are the best organized independent (meaning non-fusion) political party in New York State, and because these factors coincided with a televised debate that included all the candidates for Governor including Mr. Hawkins. Now socialist party in New York State had nearly the strength the Greens had.
Also, Mr. Hawkins had an interest in maintaining national viability for the Green Party. The Greens are a stronger party than any socialist party.
It would be nice if there were a nationally organized socialist party but there is not. The best strategy for socialists is to work within the Green Party advocating their economic program within the GP platform, and running Green campaigns where they talk about socialism.
For people interested in seeing reform of ballot access law in New York I suggest talking to the New York State Senate Democrats. In 2010 when there was danger that the Working Families Party was going to go off the ballot a Democratic bill writer authored an amendment to the present law that would have made it so that any statewide candidate getting 50,000 votes in a gubernatorial year would have retained status for his or her party. I think that’s really a step in the right direction. The bill would not have made it possible for parties to become established in presidential years but I think New York State minor parties generally do better in gubernatorial years than presidential years. I really wish this had gained some traction. But the fact that they were even willing to entertain the notion is kind of encouraging.
It’s a little scary to me to start trying to tweak NYS ballot access law though. I would not be surprised in Andrew Cuomo responded to an effort to make things better by launching his own effort to make them worse.
At least the law is clear.
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richard when is the deadline to file objections to the petitions?
Deadline to challenge is tomorrow Friday, but general objections need only be postmarked by then to be timely. If general objection is filed, then the objector has six days to file specifications.
Prior comments are correct that only vote for Governor counts towards ballot status. Green Party had approx. 60,000 votes two years ago, in part b/c Howie ran again as he had in 2006 and had some name recognition.
In 2010, the LP candidate Warren Redlich got over 48,300, missing by just 1700 votes, our best result for Gov. in 40 years. It was three times as much as four years before, and nine times as much as eight yrs. earlier so we are on a roll in New York.
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