By Dan Murphy
Note: Our newspapers, and website Yonkerstimes.com, have received several emails asking about recent developments with the independent -3rd party movement. As a former members of the SAM-NY Party, now a registered non-not affiliated to any party, here are my thoughts. Banning the party name Independent-Independence Party in the State of NY
In my view this is a “nothing burger.” Governor Hochul, and the state legislature passed a law banning the use of the name independent or independence in any political party in the state. Supposed confusion from the voters, according to the law’s two sponsors, was the reason.
“A party known for preying on independently-minded New York voters to inflate its rolls should have no place in our democratic system,” said state Sen. James Skoufis.
“Our number one priority when conducting elections should be to provide clear and accurate information to voters,” said Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz said. “For an organized political party to call themselves ‘Independence’ when in reality they are frequently working hand-in-hand with major political parties, I just think that’s not right. I’m glad we could take this step to ensure that voters who wish to register without party affiliation are actually doing so.”
I also learned that the names “American,” “United States,” “National,” “New York State,” and “Empire State” are also prohibited.
To me, the name of the political party does not matter. But it helps if you have a catchy name to attract interest. What is important is what the party stands for. And while it is true that for some time, the Independence Party of NY has alligned itself with either the democrat or republican candidate running for office, the party was founded by Tom Golisano, who was a true Independent and ran for NY Governor three times, getting the most votes in 2022, with 14% on the party that he created.
What is really needed by our legislators and the Governor is to restore the capability for minor parties in New York State to get on the ballot and stay on the ballot. Governor Andrew Cuomo, in 2018, got into a political war with the Working Families Party when they nominated Cynthia Nixon for Governor. While Cuomo won his reelection, he wanted the WFP gone, and attempted to do so by increasing the number of votes that minor parties had to get in presidential or gubernatorial elections to 130,000.
I was a member of the SAM Party of NY. SAM got more than 50,000 votes for its candidate for Governor in 2018, giving us automatic ballot status for the next four years. But Cuomo’s new requirement, which was stuffed into a budget bill in 2021 and passed by the state legisature, took our ballot line away from us, and also from the Libertarian Party, Green Party and Independence Party.
The only two minor parties that remain in NY are the Conservative Party and the Working Families Party, and interesting to note that the WFP remains, the same party that Cuomo wanted off the ballot.
And the reason that the C and WFP exist is that they endorse the D candidate for WFP, and the R candidate for the C. They endorsed Biden and Trump in 2020 and Zeldin and Hochul in 2022. Is that really an alternative choice?
The four minor parties that disappeared, SAM, Green, Libertarian and Ind, had a total of half a million NY voters registered in their parties. Now all of those voters have no political party or held their nose and went to the D, R, C or WFP.
It is also important to note that members of the Libertarian and Green parties attempted to get on the ballot for Governor last year, 2022. Larry Sharpe wanted to be the Lib. candidate for Gov., and Howie Hawkins wanted to be the Green candidate. Both were unable to get the required 40,000 valid signatures, (actually you need twice that number, 80,000, to be safe).
Another minor party, Unite NY, also attempted to collect 40,000 but were unsucessful. As did the Independence Party, who tried to collect for Lee Zeldin to be their candidate for Gov. You may have heard about what happened to them-they submitted copies of petitions and were tossed off the ballot.
Should it really be that difficult for minor parties to get on the ballot in NY, when it is so much easier in other states?
