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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. They need not run their own candidate, they can nominate a different party's nominee, and if 50,000 voters vote for that candidate on their party line, they have qualified. In addition to determining whether they automatically qualify for the next 4 years, this also determines the order on the ballot.
In the 2006 election, 5 parties received at least 50,000 votes, and qualified. They only nominated 2 candidates between them.
In the 2002 election, 3 qualified parties failed to re-qualify. One of these, the Liberal Party, dates back to 1944, and became dormant as a result of this.
In the 1994 election, the Democratic Party received the most votes, and so qualified to be first on the ballot for the next 4 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.
| Parties that qualified from the 1998 New York gubernatorial election |
| Party |
Candidate |
Votes |
% |
±% |
|
Republican |
George Pataki |
2,223,264 |
|
|
|
Democratic |
Peter Vallone |
1,518,992 |
|
|
|
Independence |
B. Thomas Golisano |
364,056 |
|
|
|
Conservative |
George Pataki |
348,727 |
|
|
|
Liberal |
Betsy McCaughey Ross |
77,915 |
|
|
|
Right to Life |
Michael Reynolds |
56,683 |
|
|
|
Green |
Al Lewis |
52,533 |
|
|
|
Working Families |
Peter Vallone |
51,325 |
|
|
[edit] See also
