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Independent Politics of New York |
News and opinion about minor parties and independent politics in New York state.
The presidential election will be held on Tuesday, November 3. Early voting is also now permitted in New York, but polling places are limited.
Due to the corona virus, anyone may choose to vote by absentee ballot, for this election only.
Contact your county Board of Elections to get an absentee ballot. Some counties allow you apply on line or by phone or email.
In New York City, you can apply at https://nycabsentee.com/ .
The Libertarian Party has nominated Jo Jorgensen for President, the Greens have Howie Hawkins and the Independence Party nominated Brock Pierce.
The Conservatives are backing Trump and the Working Families Party backs Biden. The SAM Party has left its line blank for President.
There are also elections for Congress, the State Assembly and State Senate, judges and local races around the state.
There may be fewer independent candidates than usual due to difficulties in petitioning during the corona virus pandemic.
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In a bid to stifle competition, Governor Cuomo signed a law that will force most independents and minor parties off the ballot.
The new law requires parties to qualify for the ballot every 2 years instead of 4 years,
and raises the number of votes needed from 50,000 to at least 130,000 and probably more.
The petition signatures required from independent candidates are tripled, from 15,000 to 45,000.
The law is being challenged, but if upheld will likely eliminate the Libertarians, Greens, Independence Party, and SAM
from the ballot, and possibly the Working Families Party, leaving voters with only the major parties and maybe the Conservatives to choose from.
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In a referendum on November 5, 2019, over 75% of New York City voters agreed to amend the City Charter
to allow Ranked Choice Voting for up to 5 candidates in future primary and special elections for local offices.
This will eliminate "wasted" votes by allowing people to choose their favorite candidate even if that candidate is unlikely to win.
In cases where no candidate gets a majority of "first choice" votes, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and anyone
who voted for that candidate has his or her "second choice" vote added to the remaining candidates' totals.
The process is repeated, if necessary, until one candidate has a majority.
This also eliminates the need for run-off primaries, which were previously held if no candidate for
Mayor, Comptroller, or Public Advocate got 40% of the vote in the first round.
Turn out for those run-offs was often much lower than for the original primary.
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The URL of this site is http://ipny.org. Technical contact: webmaster[at]ipny.org
Most recent update: September 9, 2020