Defending Democracy By Fighting Restrictive Ballot Access Laws For Third Parties (1 Viewer)

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    DarinRobbins

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    In 2020 the NY State Legislature, at the behest of then Governor Cuomo, passed legislation as a rider to the state budget--so it bypassed the usual period of public comment on legislation--tripling the number of signatures needed by independent parties to get on the NY State ballot (from 15,000 to 45,000) and raising the number of votes for its Gubernatorial candidate a party must register in order to maintain ballot status from 50,000 to a minimum of 130,000--or else 2 percent of the total vote whichever is greater. It also added a requirement that the same percentage of votes be achieved for the party's Presidential nominee in Presidential election years, meaning the vote totals must now be reached every two years rather than every four years as was the case with the previous requirement.

    This makes the ballot access laws in NY State among the most restrictive in the USA. As a result the Green Party will be required to meet the 45,000 valid signature requirement in order to be on the state-wide ballot in 2022, even though the party achieved the legal requirement for maintaining ballot status for the next four years as a result of the 2018 Gubernatorial election--based on the rules in effect at that time.

    This is nothing but a naked power-grab by the Democratic Party in NY State, a means of excluding the Green Party and others who have been able to achieve/maintain ballot status in the past. The Green Party and the Libertarian Party filed a joint lawsuit. The Working Families Party filed a different lawsuit raising other issues. So far all of the legal opinions by federal judges have upheld the new law. Additional appeals are pending.

    You can, personally, strike a blow to defend democracy in NY State. If you are a Green Party member or voter then you have a direct interest in helping the party maintain (or regain) its ballot line. If you are not, but are simply a supporter of basic democratic rights, you also have an interest in responding to this undemocratic abuse by the Democrats in the NY State legislature. The Green Party is in urgent need of funds to help with both the lawsuit and a petitioning campaign that will begin in April. Just covering our court costs is a major burden on the party, and there is no way we can expect to meet the petitioning requirements without hiring paid petitioners.

    Donations can be made by following the link below which contains the mailing address and instructions if you wish to donate by check.
    Donate - Green Party of New York State (https://www.gpny.org/donate)
    Or you can text GreenFuture to 22525 for a link to the donation page.

    Thanks in advance to everyone who responds to this appeal.
     
    New York now has the most restrictive ballot access laws in the country. The petitioning period is one of the shortest, especially in regards to the higher number of signatures required. Other states use a filing fee, party registration, or votes in a preceding election for ballot access for candidates. Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nebraska, Nevada, and Oregon use party registration to determine ballot status. Idaho, South Carolina, and Mississippi use the number of candidates running to measure ballot status. Not only are the new ballot access laws in New York the most restrictive in the country, but they are one of the most restrictive in the world. It takes 10 signatures to run as an independent for the British House of Commons, 2 signatures in India and New Zealand, 50 signatures in Australia, 100 signatures in Canada, and 200 signatures in Germany.
     
    If a political party cannot get 45,000 signatures in a State with 20,000,000 people, they don't need to clutter the ballot.
    Why? Why are so many scared to give people an option not to vote for candidates they can't stand? Why can't I vote for someone i may have more common beleifs with without not voting at all? Why i am i not allowed to vote for someone just because they don't have a chance to win? So what if only 25,000 people want to vote for a candiate in that state, it should be their right to do so without being barred because the other 2 parties want the monoploly.. They already try everything they can to block the Libertarian candidates, but could not succeed the last 2 elections, as they were the only 3rd party on the ballot in all 50 states, but had to jump through so many hoops and injuctions and lawsuits just to be able.
     
    Why? Why are so many scared to give people an option not to vote for candidates they can't stand? Why can't I vote for someone i may have more common beleifs with without not voting at all? Why i am i not allowed to vote for someone just because they don't have a chance to win? So what if only 25,000 people want to vote for a candiate in that state, it should be their right to do so without being barred because the other 2 parties want the monoploly.. They already try everything they can to block the Libertarian candidates, but could not succeed the last 2 elections, as they were the only 3rd party on the ballot in all 50 states, but had to jump through so many hoops and injuctions and lawsuits just to be able.

    If that is the case, why even demand 25,000 signatures? Why not demand just one signature? As long as one other person wants to vote for a candidate, let's just jam them all on the ballot, and give them campaign money, equal air time ....

    But hey, it is the State of NY, you can write in your candidate on your ballot and exercise your right to waste cast your vote for them; no signatures needed.

    But again, in an age where cat videos on youtube get millions of views, if someone wants to be a candidate for State office and cannot gather signatures from .00225% of that State's population, they don't deserve to be on a ballot for anything.

    Did you see what happened in California last year, the Governor's recall? Do you really want to see similar elections in your State with a similar collection of yahoos on the ballot? I don't.
     
    You mean other than the two yahoos that are guaranteed on the ballot?
    And what does it hurt to have 20 people on the ballot? If they register in the correct time frame and fill out all necessary paper work, and meet legal requirements for that office, yes.
    I would rather WASTE (as you put it) my vote on a candiate that i think is better than WASTE it on a candidate that i do not like and think is not better. I guess we have a different definition of the word waste.
    Maybe you'll site costs.. just think of the 100s of millions of dollars wasted on the Gov't paying so the Dems and Repubs can pick wh they want to run...
     
    You mean other than the two yahoos that are guaranteed on the ballot?
    No. I mean yahoos that got in that ballot whose platform was "I thought it was cool to run", "free weed"... and those yahoos got like 10,000 sigs a head.
    And what does it hurt to have 20 people on the ballot?
    You'd think it a good thing, but it isn't. I can tell you from experience.

    If they register in the correct time frame and fill out all necessary paper work, and meet legal requirements for that office, yes.
    And those legal requirements include signatures, no?

    I would rather WASTE (as you put it) my vote on a candiate that i think is better than WASTE it on a candidate that i do not like and think is not better. I guess we have a different definition of the word waste.
    Maybe you'll site costs.. just think of the 100s of millions of dollars wasted on the Gov't paying so the Dems and Repubs can pick wh they want to run...

    And that is a great principle to have... however, in the times we are living in, the one principle we need to hold on to, is the principle to maintain democracy, and defeat those who attempt to overturn rightful democratic elections and praise tyrants invading sovereign nations while pushing white nationalist agendas.

    But you do you.
     
    I should clarify that the 45,000 signatures is for placing the candidate for Governor of a non-ballot status party on the ballot. In order to achieve ballot status, the candidate for Governor must now get 130,000 votes. Parties that have ballot status do not need to get 45,000 signatures for their candidate for Governor. They either use a primary or nominating convention. The Green Party achieved ballot status in New York in 1998, lost it in 2002, and regained it in 2010. After the rules change, we lost ballot status in 2020. If we fail to get enough signatures in 2022, and therefore have no candidate for Governor in order to get back ballot status, all registered Green Party members in the state will have their registration changed to "blank". This isn't about keeping fringe candidates off the ballot, it is about destroying any independent alternative to the two party system.
     
    I should clarify that the 45,000 signatures is for placing the candidate for Governor of a non-ballot status party on the ballot. In order to achieve ballot status, the candidate for Governor must now get 130,000 votes. Parties that have ballot status do not need to get 45,000 signatures for their candidate for Governor. They either use a primary or nominating convention. The Green Party achieved ballot status in New York in 1998, lost it in 2002, and regained it in 2010. After the rules change, we lost ballot status in 2020. If we fail to get enough signatures in 2022, and therefore have no candidate for Governor in order to get back ballot status, all registered Green Party members in the state will have their registration changed to "blank". This isn't about keeping fringe candidates off the ballot, it is about destroying any independent alternative to the two party system.

    Same difference. If your candidate for Governor cannot get 130,000 votes in the entire Sate of 20+ million, your party is either very ineffective in getting its message across, or people don't care about your message. Seems like you just want your party to be on the ballot for the sake of being on the ballot.
     
    I've said this in a similar thread but if third parties want to gain traction in this country they need to focus more on getting issue messaging out to the people rather than putting unknown candidates with no chance of winning on to ballots. What form that takes I'm not certain. But rather than spending money on canvassing efforts, try to generate funds for putting out commercials on television and social media. Host forums on common sense issues that are important to people.

    No sense in pounding your head against the wall trying to get ballot access for someone who will get 3% of the vote because no one knows what the hell the Green party is about or why they'd be better off voting for them instead of the two major parties.
     
    In New York, ballot status means that it is easier for local candidates to run for office where the Green Party has had the most success. In 2014 our candidate for Governor got 184,419 votes. In 2010 he got 59,906 votes, which got us ballot status, and in 2018 he got 103,946 votes. Ballot status is very important for any political party, as well as keeping our registration, and it is connected directly to the Governor's race. As I mentioned earlier, we would prefer using registration numbers or some other factor as the qualifier for ballot status. In terms of messaging, posts like this are part of our outreach to social media groups and online message boards to reach those outside of our party who share our issues and ideas.
     

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