New York Assemblyman Gary Pretlow (D-Mt. Vernon) has introduced AB 838. It would alter the definition of “political party” from a group that got 50,000 votes for Governor, to a group that got 100,000 votes for Governor. If passed, it would take effect for elections starting in 2016. Thus, it would remove the Independence, Women’s Equality, and Stop Common Core Parties from the ballot.
Pretlow has been in the Assembly starting in 1992. In November 2014, no one ran against him, and he had the nomination of the Democratic Party and the Independence Party.
Just like in Indiana when they wanted to get the American Party off the ballot.
Mitch Harper, who was in the Indiana legislature when the vote test was quadrupled, told me that the 1980 legislation (which also quadrupled the number of signatures) was motivated by an independent candidate for Mayor of a city in Lake County in 1979. If the bill was also intended to get rid of the American Party, it at least gave the American Party quite a long time to increase voter support, because even though the bill was passed in 1980, it didn’t eliminate the American and Libertarian Parties from the ballot until November 1986, when they both failed to new harsher vote test that was effective that year.
How soon before the TYRANT incumbent robot party hacks raise the requirement to 50 percent of the votes ???
I.E. have ONLY the candidates of the gangster ruling class be on the ballots ???
See the old communist ballots in Europe.
I mention again – ballot access is NOW a WAR type event —
due to various govts in the USA taxing / borrowing / spending about 40 percent of the GDP.
Bills like this have come up from time to time in New York in the 20 years I’ve been paying attention. The last time I recall this threshold of 100,000 being proposed was right after one of the Green Party’s successful attempts to gather 50,000 votes for its gubernatorial candidate. Unless it’s quickly joined by a State Senate bill and Republican sponsorship, it’s not likely to get out of committee.
Obviously, if this bill were ever enacted, it would be a disaster for the Libertarian Party of New York. I urge every New Yorker to contact his/her local Assemblymember and urge him/her to oppose this Draconian restriction.
Shows just how much of a pathetic joke the NY Independence Party is.
My understanding was that the bill didn’t take effect until after 1982 when the American Party qualified under the old law. As I remember the AP would not have qualified otherwise. My info is from an article from the old “Indianapolis News”.
Until the NYIP provides the votes needed to win.
The American Party won qualified status in Indiana in November 1978, when it polled 1.38% for Secretary of State. So it was on automatically in 1980, and 1982. In 1982 it got .59% for Secretary of State, so it was on automatically in 1984 and 1986. In 1986 the new law finally kicked in, and so it needed 2% for Secretary of State, but it only got .66%, so it went off. So it is true that the new law knocked the party off the ballot.
This would say a lot about him and those who vote in favor of the measure. A sad day if it passes.