NY Voters Could See 12 Ballot Lines for Governor

New York voters could see as many as 12 parties putting up candidates for governor this fall, including the familiar major parties and some returning longshots like the Rent is Too High Party.

Six independent parties filed petitions before last week’s deadline to join the state’s six official parties on the November ballot for governor. Formal objections are due this week from individuals who don’t believe the parties belong on the ballot.

Six parties have an automatic place on the ballot: the Democrat, Republican, Independence, Conservative, Working Families and Green parties. The Democratic, Independence and Working Families parties are supporting the re-election of Gov. Andrew Cuomo; the Republican and Conservative parties are backing Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino. Howie Hawkins, who finished third in 2010, is again running as a Green Party candidate.

Seeking to join them are the Women’s Equality Party started by Cuomo’s campaign, the Stop Common Core Party announced by Astorino and the Life and Justice Party, a group started by Michael Carey, its gubernatorial candidate, to oppose Roe v. Wade and advocate for disabled people in state facilities.

Two candidates have filed to run as libertarians: Sam Sloan and Michael McDermott.

Jimmy McMillan is again seeking to run on the Rent is Too … High Party line. The sixth party is the Sapient Party, whose candidate is Steven Cohn and which describes itself online as the “party of wisdom.”

New York state election law allows candidates to run on multiple party lines, letting candidates like Cuomo and Astorino get their names on the ballot more than once while appealing to specific voter segments.

This article appeared in print on page 4 of the August 29th, 2014 edition of Hamodia.