Qualified New York political parties

Elections in New York State
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State government New York gubernatorial elections 1777 1780 1783 1786 1789 1792 1795 1798 1801 1804 1807 1810 1813 1816 1817 1820 1822 1824 1826 1828 1830 1832 1834 1836 1838 1840 1842 1844 1846 1848 1850 1852 1854 1856 1858 1860 1862 1864 1866 1868 1870 1872 1874 1876 1879 1882 1885 1888 1891 1894 1896 1898 1900 1902 1904 1906 1908 1910 1912 1914 1916 1918 1920 1922 1924 1926 1928 1930 1932 1934 1936 1938 1942 1946 1950 1954 1958 1962 1966 1970 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 Attorney General elections 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 State Comptroller elections 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 State Assembly elections 99th district, 2006 State elections by year 1811 1844 1846 1847-J 1847 1848 1849 1850 1851 1852 1853 1854 1855 1856 1857 1858 1859 1860 1861 1862 1863 1864 1865 1866 1867 1868 1869 1870 1870–J 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1900 1902 1903 1904 1906 1907 1908 1910 1912 1913 1914 1916 1917 1918 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1926 1927 1928 1930 1932 1933 1934 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1942 1943 1944 1946 1949 1950 1952 1953 1954 1956 1958 1959 1960 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1972 1973 1974 2002 2006 2008 2009 2010 2012 2016
New York City Characteristics of NYC mayoral elections Mayoral elections 1917 1953 1957 1961 1965 1969 1973 1977 1981 1985 1989 1993 1997 2001 2005 2009 2013 2017 City Council elections 2013 Public Advocate elections 2009 2013 Comptroller elections 2009 2013 Borough president elections 2013 The Bronx Brooklyn Manhattan Queens Staten Island
Buffalo Mayoral elections 1981 1985 1989 1993 1997 2001 2005 2009 2013 2017
Rochester Mayoral elections 2009 2013 2017
Syracuse Mayoral elections 2009

In New York State, to qualify for automatic ballot access, a party must have received at least 50,000 votes in the previous gubernatorial election. A party must run a gubernatorial candidate (as well as a lieutenant governor candidate, although this portion has been ignored in the past) to be eligible for automatic ballot access; if 50,000 voters vote for that candidate on their party line, they have qualified the party for the next election. A party that is not qualified may run candidates by completing a petition process. Parties are also allowed to cross-endorse candidates, whose votes would be accumulated under electoral fusion, but any parties must cross-endorse both the governor and lieutenant governor candidates for fusion to apply. Parties that are already qualified must issue a Wilson Pakula if they cross-endorse someone registered in another already qualified party; there are no restrictions (other than the fact that the candidate must be eligible for office) on who can be nominated on a non-qualified ballot line, as these lines are determined by filing petitions.

For statewide and special elections, automatic ballot access means that no petitions have to be filed to gain access to a ballot line, and party organizations can endorse candidates through their own conventions (this does not apply to legislative candidates, who still must petition onto the ballot regardless of party endorsement, but are only required to collect a third of the signatures required of non-qualified parties). Qualified parties also are the only parties eligible to hold primary elections in the state-run primary elections. In addition to determining whether they automatically qualify for the next 4 years, this also determines the order on the ballot.

In the 1994 election, the Democratic Party received the most votes, and so qualified to be first on the ballot for the next four years, even though their candidate, incumbent Governor Mario Cuomo lost. George Pataki beat him because he received more votes combined over all of his party lines.

In the 2002 election, three qualified parties failed to re-qualify: the Liberal Party, Right to Life Party, and the Green Party. The Liberals became dormant, the Right to Life dramatically scaled back its operations, while the Greens continued mostly unaffected before re-qualifying in 2010. The same five parties who qualified in 2002 re-qualified in the 2006 election. After the 2010 elections, these parties with ballot access were joined by a sixth party, the Green Party.

Two additional parties qualified in the 2014 elections: the Women's Equality Party (a front for incumbent Governor Andrew Cuomo) and the Stop Common Core Party, later renamed the Reform Party.

Parties that do not qualify automatically can petition their way onto the ballot. For statewide candidates, this requires 15,000 signatures, and requires 100 signatures in at least half of the congressional districts in the state.^[1] For example, the Libertarian Party, despite having never registering 50,000 votes in a gubernatorial election, has nonetheless been on the state ballot with a gubernatorial candidate in every election since 1974 because of this process. Unless the gubernatorial candidate receives 50,000 votes, said parties must petition their way onto the ballot for every election they seek, a regulation that qualified parties do not need to follow. These parties also are not eligible to run primaries, and the first person to submit 15,000 signatures automatically gets the party line. (Sam Sloan attempted to use this tactic to take the 2010 and 2014 Libertarian gubernatorial nominations from that party's nominee but failed for lack of signatures.)

1994

1998

2002

2006

2010

2014

The Stop Common Core Party rechristened itself as the Reform Party, initially unrelated to the national Reform Party, on February 17, 2015. The National Reform Party, the NYS Reform Party and the organization that changed it name to the NYS Reform Party are now all united. This is an officially affiliated Reform Party, with the National Reform Party's Blessing. Bill Merrell serves as Chair of the Interim Committee of what was once the Stop Common Core Party, now NYS Reform Party and the Original Reform Party authorized by the National Committee in NYS. This alliance unraveled when Curtis Sliwa orchestrated a hostile takeover of the state Reform Party in September 2016, a process the national party is trying to fight in court.

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