Shawn Griffiths
Photo Credit: Getty Images / Unsplash+
The Libertarian Party of New York (LPNY) and the Green Party of New York (GPNY) filed a motion to intervene in Team Kennedy v. Berger, a lawsuit filed by independent presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr in May challenging New York's independent petitioning laws.
The two parties seek to join the lawsuit as plaintiffs after they lost their ballot access in 2020 following changes to state election laws made by then-Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
Toward the end of 2019, Cuomo expanded the authority of a public campaign financing commission to rewrite election laws that pertain to minor political parties in the state.
The first change made was to ballot access requirements, which went from a party needing 50,000 votes every 4 years in order to keep their ballot line to 130,000 votes every 2 years.
Further, the petition signature requirement for parties seeking ballot access increased from 15,000 to 45,000 over a 6-week period.
In 2020, Libertarian presidential nominee Jo Jorgenson received over 60,000 votes, which under the old rules would have allowed her party to maintain its ballot line in 2024.
However, the LPNY lost its ballot access after the 2020 election, along with the Green, Independence, and SAM (Serve America Movement) Parties.
The LPNY and GPNY collaborated on a joint-press release Wednesday in which they asserted that "New York is now one of the most difficult states for political parties to obtain and maintain a ballot line."
“This is a clear attempt at voter suppression which is happening around the country, mostly initiated by the DNC as they continue to deal with their party in disarray no matter who they place at the top of the ticket while Republicans threaten to curtail civil liberties and cater to the rich," said Gloria Mattera, co-chair of the GPNY.
Kennedy's lawsuit challenges New York's signature requirements on numerous points:
It points to the high number of signatures that has to be collected in a short window, the cost associated with signature gathering, and the requirement to name a slate of presidential electors in the petition process when major parties submit these names after their nomination conventions.
The cost associated with signature gathering is also a focus of the LPNY and GPNY. The LPNY says it spent nearly $300,000 in 2022, but was unable to get gubernatorial candidate Larry Sharpe on the ballot.
The GPNY and the Jill Stein campaign spent approximately $368,000 in 2024, but also failed to gain ballot access while Kennedy has the signatures needed and spent $1.1 million to do it.
“The laws put in place by the major parties force minor parties and independent candidates to spend enormous amounts of money just to get on the ballot," said LPNY Chair Andrew Kolstee.
"The major parties enjoy automatic ballot access, whereas we must allocate significant resources just to compete,” he added.
Four parties have recognized ballot access in New York: The Republican Party, Democratic Party, Working Families Party, and the Conservative Party. The WFP and Conservative Parties have kept their ballot line as a result of fusion voting.
Fusion voting means a candidate can run for the nomination of a major party and a minor party. The WFP tends to nominate Democratic nominees, while the Conservative Party will nominate Republicans.