A Siena College Poll released October 1 for the New York gubernatorial race shows Larry Sharpe, Libertarian nominee, at 2%. Assuming that 5,000,000 voters turn out to vote, 2% would be 100,000 votes, double the legal requirement that a party poll 50,000 votes for Governor to become qualified.
The Libertarian Party has never been ballot-qualified in New York in the past. The closest it ever came was 2010, when Warren Redlich received 48,386. Other states in which it has never been ballot-qualified are Minnesota, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, and Virginia. Also the party’s qualified status in Georgia and Illinois has only been for statewide office, not district office. In Connecticut it is piece-meal, for some offices but not others.
In Arizona, California, Maine, Massachusetts, North Dakota, and Washington, even when a small party is ballot-qualified, it still has huge hurdles placing nominees on the general election ballot, because either it is too difficult for a candidate to get on the party’s primary ballot, or because the candidate in the primary must poll a very large number of votes to get on in November.