April 27, 2007 Today, America First Party of New York chairman Bradley Maurer, Constitution Party of New York chairman Burr Deitz, Green Party of New York chairman Peter LaVenia, and Libertarian Party of New York chairman Richard Cooper issued a statement in support of ballot access reform legislation currently bottled up in committee. Senate Bill 29 and Assembly Bill 575 would reduce the number of signatures required to get on the ballot for statewide office in New York from 15,000 to 7,500, and the number of signatures required on all other petitions from the current five percent to two and one-half percent of enrolled voters in the district. S. 446 and A.826 would reduce the number of signatures required for nominating petitions for congressional district from 3500 to 1200 and increase the filing time required for a special election to sixteen days.


The party chair’s stated “This legislation is not perfect. However, this reduction in required signatures is certainly a step in the right direction. We urge the legislature to pass these bills, and Governor Spitzer, to sign them into law, in fairness to the political process.”