No third party gubernatorial candidate qualified for NY ballot access, the first time since 1946. Libertarian Larry Sharpe makes final court appeal on Friday.

ALBANY, NY, USA, September 8, 2022 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Fate of Democracy in America Rests on Ballot Access in New York Governor’s Race Claims Larry Sharpe
No third party gubernatorial candidate qualified for NY ballot access, the first time since 1946. Libertarian Larry Sharpe makes final court appeal on Friday.

A final hearing during this election cycle will be on Friday September 9th at 9:30am, in the Robert Abrams Building, Empire State Plaza, 5th Floor, State Street, in Albany, New York. Prior to this, the Libertarian Party and its candidate for Governor of New York, Larry Sharpe have filed multiple lawsuits against New York State and the New York State Board of Elections, in order to get back on the ballot after rule changes made in 2018. Ballot access was denied for them, as well as all other independent candidates for Governor of New York. Consequently, only the two major candidates will appear on the ballot for the first time since 1946 as reported by Jay Root of the New York Times, unless the ruling is overturned during this appeal.

Before Cuomo resigned due to allegations of sexual harassment, he expanded the requirements for third party candidates to appear on the ballot, to a level never seen before in New York State history. He tripled the number of signatures required, shifted the gathering period into the late winter, while simultaneously reducing the time available to collect petitions to just 6 weeks.

According to Larry Sharpe, if the rules for ballot access are not rolled back to levels that were achievable by third party candidates in the past, no third party candidate will have 50-state ballot access in the 2024 election. This limits voters to just two choices in the national election for the first time since 1964 when Lyndon B. Johnson won a two-way race against Barry Goldwater.

Larry Sharpe said, "This may be the last stand for independent candidates in the entire country for a generation or more! For a state that talks about choice and voter rights, New York consistently rules against both when it comes to the ballot. If we lose this appeal, not only will there be no independent candidate for governor this year, but there also won't be an independent candidate for President with 50-state ballot access in 2024. That will likely remain true for at least 20 years and we need independent parties more than ever in this terribly polarizing political environment. When they take away our choice they take away our voice. And in this case, also our chance to bring our nation together via a third option."

In 2016, the Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson surpassed all prior voter records for a third party since 1992. At that time, Ross Perot garnered 19 million votes and in response, the rules for participating in the Presidential debates were changed. Experts have suggested that the over 6 million citizens who voted for Johnson and other third party candidates was largely a protest vote, due to Donald J. Trump and Hillary R. Clinton being among the most unpopular presidential candidates in history.
Sharpe claims that this denial of a citizen’s right to protest by voting for a minor party candidate is in direct violation of the First Amendment of the US Constitution. Over 500,000 New Yorkers voted for a third party candidate in 2018. Sharpe asserts that millions of citizen voters will be disenfranchised in the 2024 election if access is not granted, making the ballot access rules in New York State a constitutional crisis at the federal level.

Prior to Cuomo’s rule change, Larry Sharpe had garnered enough votes in the 2018 election to qualify for automatic ballot access in 2022. This was rescinded after Cuomo raised the requirement from 50,000 votes to approximately 130,000 votes. Additionally, he tripled the petitioning requirement from 15,000 valid signatures to 45,000 valid signatures to get on the ballot without having automatic access. As a result, no independent governor candidate qualified to be on the ballot. Lee Zeldin petitioned for the Independence line, but was disqualified after over 13,000 signatures were disqualified after the New York Board of Elections determined that they were photocopies. Multiple election experts went so far as to suggest that Zeldin and his team committed fraud in order to capture another line on the ballot. As a result, the only candidates on the ballot will be Kathy Hochul and Lee Zeldin.

Rulings that denied third party candidates ballot access in New York were made by Judge John G. Koeltl (1:20cv-323), Judge Patrick F. McAllister (E2022-0116CV), and Judge David Weinstein (904469-2022). The only objection to the Libertarian Party’s petitions came from John P. O’Connor of the Conservative Party, led by Chairman Gerard “Gerry” Kassar. Under Kassar’s direction, members of the Conservative Party acted as a proxy for the Republican Party in a battle to remove the Libertarian line from the ballot. According to Sharpe, in blocking third party candidates from appearing on the ballot, Gerry Kassar and Lee Zeldin have shown that they do not believe in democracy, free speech, or the US Constitution.

For more information about Larry Sharpe and his policies, visit https://larrysharpe.com/

Dennis Consorte
Larry Sharpe for Governor
+1 201-222-1001
dennisconsorte@larrysharpe.com
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