Are you a fan of progressive activist Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s presidential campaign? Or maybe you’re backing the presidential candidacy of Professor Cornel West, an independent democratic socialist? If Professor West isn’t your cup of tea, maybe you’re planning to cast your vote for the likely Green Party standard bearer, Dr. Jill Stein. Well, if you’re a progressive New Yorker looking to vote for any of these progressive presidential candidates, don’t be so sure you’ll even find them on your ballot this November.
The truth is that candidates Kennedy, West and Stein face an almost unimaginable uphill battle just to get onto the ballot in the Empire State, and there is a high likelihood that their progressive and far left supporters in New York will be stuck writing in their names for president this fall. Like many New Yorkers, you’re probably wondering how this could be.
In 2020, as COVID-19 was spreading and New Yorkers were being told to stay home to stop the spread of this virus, then-Governor Andrew Cuomo and the Democratic leaders of the state legislature negotiated a state budget that included a new public campaign finance program. This program was identical to one that had been enacted by a state- created commission. For constitutional and procedural reasons, the commission’s program was invalidated by the courts, but the Governor and state legislature were able to put the commission’s work into law through the state budget process in 2020.
One part of this language included in the state budget amended the Election Law to dramatically raise the signature requirements for independent candidates for statewide office; this included independent candidates for president. As a result of this amendment to the Election Law, Kennedy, West, Stein and any other candidate seeking a spot on the New York ballot as an independent candidate for president is required to obtain 45,000 valid signatures on a petition. In addition, candidates must obtain 500 valid signatures in each of one half of all the Congressional districts in the Empire State.
If this sounds like a heavy lift, it’s because it is. In the most recent race for governor, no independent candidates for governor qualified for the ballot. A number of candidates tried to qualify for the gubernatorial ballot, but no independent candidate for governor could meet the new petition signature threshold. As a result of these staggeringly high petition signature requirements, the 2022 races for governor, attorney general and comptroller had no independent candidates on the ballot.
While getting on the statewide ballot as an independent was never a small task, it wasn’t always this difficult. Prior to the 2020 amendment to the state Election Law, independent statewide candidates for president in New York needed valid signatures from only 15,000 registered voters in the state. Candidates also needed to obtain 100 signatures from registered voters in half of all the Congressional districts in the state.
No one would argue that, under the old rules, it would have been easy for candidates like Kennedy, West and Stein to qualify for the ballot. At the same time, it wasn’t an impossible task, and candidates frequently qualified to appear on the ballot as independent presidential candidates and independent candidates for other statewide Offices.
One of these progressive independents, Robert Kennedy, is likely to face additional obstacles to getting on the ballot in New York. It was recently reported that the Democratic National Committee is creating a war room-style operation to thwart Kennedy’s effort’s to obtain ballot access throughout the country, and in February, the Democratic National Committee even filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission alleging a Kennedy-aligned super PAC illegally coordinated with the Kennedy campaign on ballot access qualification. You don’t need to be a seasoned political operative to predict that the DNC will do everything it can to keep Kennedy — whose father served as a Senator from New York — off the New York ballot.
Candidates like Kennedy, West and Stein will begin petitioning on April 16, the day the Election Law allows voters to begin signing petitions for independent presidential candidates. They’ll have approximately five weeks to obtain their 45,000 valid signatures. While progressive New Yorkers will undoubtedly put in the effort to qualify Kennedy, West and Stein for New York’s general election ballot, the recent changes to the Election Law — not to mention opposition from establishment Democrats — likely suggest that their efforts won’t be enough to qualify their favored progressive candidate for the ballot.