Candidate of the Independence Party Adolfo Carrion was excluded at the October 15 debate in the race for New York City mayor. The debate features Democratic nominee Bill de Blasio and Republican candidate Joe Lhota, but Carrion is staying quiet about this and future debates.
Whether or not you believe the criteria to qualify for the debate are superficial, candidates must meet the threshold to qualify for Tuesday’s debate; having both raised $750,000 and having garnered at least five percent support in a poll by October 8, a week prior to the broadcast.
Carrion was able to debate Lhota last Wednesday on NY1 in an unofficial debate. It can be viewed here, but de Blasio was not present.
Carrion and the Independence Party have been pushing a petition on Change.org to get Carrion in the official debate on October 15.
New York City has closed primary elections. However, there are over 826,000 registered non-affiliated voters in New York City. This means that nearly one million voters were excluded from the primary election process.
He spoke in a video calling for support to get into the NYC mayoral debates, and cited the exclusionary primary process:
“Univision and ABC will host a debate, and they will not invite me. They will invite a Democrat and a Republican, and that’s it. The problem is, is that I’m an independent. And like a million other New Yorkers, I was not permitted to vote on primary day.”
“I’m not asking for your vote, I’m simply asking you to support my entry into this important debate. I’ll be honest, I’ll be direct, I’ll call out the BS.”
Should independent and/or third-party candidates be included in the debates? Why or why not?