The New York Independence Party has been ballot-qualified starting in November 1994. Its share of the vote for its nominees (in the districts in which it had nominees) was the lowest in 2018 since the 1990’s.
For U.S. House, its nominees polled 1.47% of the vote (in the districts that it contested), the lowest in history.
For State Senate, its nominees polled 3.39%, the lowest since 1998. The 1998 percentage was 2.93%.
For Assembly, the 2018 percentage was 2.98%, the lowest since it has been a qualified party.
For the office at the top of the ballot (President in presidential years, and Governor in gubernatorial years), its 2018 percentage was 1.13%, the lowest in its history, except 2000, when it nominated John Hagelin for President and he only polled .36%. Hagelin was also the Natural Law Party nominee that year.
In general, all of the New York minor parties that mostly nominate Democratic and Republican nominees as their own nominees, did poorly in 2018. Perhaps New York voters are getting weary of the “fusion” parties.
Older folks with brains passing on / moving OUT —
leaving the new Age robots/morons behind.
Interestingly, Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh got most of his votes from this line in 2017.
I don’t think people are tired of fusion, it’s just the extreme partisanship in 2018 pushed a lot of people to vote for their preferred major party. All 3rd parties had a down year, except in races where they were only facing 1 major party opponent, in which case they sometimes set party records.
I wonder what the net effect of 2018 was on ballot access for all 3rd parties nationwide. It seems like it should be down, but it was up for the LP and, I think, the Green and Constitution Parties.