New York Worst In The Nation For Voter Choice, Says Green Party
10/14/24 - New York is the worst state in the nation for voter choice at a time when growing numbers of citizens are dissatisfied with the Democratic and Republican party’s candidates, according to Green Party officials.
Party leaders pointed out that New York is the only state in the nation to have just two presidential candidates on the ballot, and that in the last 40 years this has happened in only one other state, Oklahoma. Oklahoma has since eased its ballot access laws in 2012 to allow for multiple presidential candidates.
The Green Party said that this lack of choice hurts democracy in New York, contributes to voter suppression, and amounts to cartelization of the political process by the Democratic and Republican parties. Party officials said that Gov. Kathleen Hochul and New York legislators should move quickly to restore ballot-access requirements to what they were prior to 2020’s draconian changes by disgraced ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and then work to make New York’s election laws a “gold standard” for the nation.
"I am absolutely disgusted that the only two choices on my ballot this year are candidates who are pro-war, pro-genocide and anti-democracy. Their parties have done everything they could to squelch other voices and to push our candidates off the ballot," said Cassandra Lems, a member of the Executive Committee of the Green Party of New York, and a Co-chair of the national party. “I am going to write in Jill Stein for president,” she added.
“Why is New York suppressing voter choice when it could lead the way in ballot access instead? There’s no justification for the hurdles placed on smaller party and independent candidates except to eliminate what should be robust, healthy, democratic competition. It cost over $1 million for a candidate like RFK, Jr. to collect enough signatures here in New York, which is prohibitive for smaller parties and candidates. Greens, and other smaller parties, raise important issues like the Ecosocialist Green New Deal, single payer universal healthcare, universal basic income, rent control, and a host of issues the Democrats and Republicans ignore. It’s time we once again are able to give a voice to voters that want candidates who support the issues they care about,” said Peter LaVenia, co-chair of the Green Party of New York.