New York State Board of Elections declared the Libertarian Party petition invalid due to insufficient signatures.

ALBANY, NY, USA, June 19, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The New York State Board of Elections has declared the Libertarian Party petition invalid at the Commissioners meeting held on June 13, 2024 due to insufficient signatures.

The Libertarian Party of New York filed petitions on May 28, 2024 for the Presidential/Vice Presidential ticket. Larry Sharpe was the stand-in candidate for President and Rich Purtell was the stand-in candidate for Vice President. Stand-in candidates needed to be used on the petition as petitioning took place from April 16–May 28, 2024 while the Libertarian National Convention was held May 24–26, 2024.

On Sunday evening, May 26, 2024, Chase Oliver was nominated as the Libertarian Party’s candidate for President while Mike ter Maat was nominated as the Libertarian Party’s candidate for Vice President. The deadline for filing petitions in New York was thus less than 48 hours after the nominees were determined. Oliver and ter Maat were substituted upon the declination of Sharpe and Purtell. No objections to the petition were ever filed.

However, the Board of Elections has declared that Chase Oliver and Mike ter Maat will not appear on the ballot, which will be the first time in the party’s history in which the Libertarian Party’s candidates for President/Vice President will not appear on the New York State ballot. In 2022, the Libertarian Party’s candidate for Governor, Larry Sharpe, was also knocked off the ballot.

The Board of Elections also invalidated the petition of Green Party Presidential Nominee Jill Stein along with independent candidates Cornel West and Shiva Ayyadurai.

“This is just another blow to third parties in New York State since the change of the law in 2020 designed to kill off third parties,” said Andrew Kolstee, Chair of the Libertarian Party of New York. “This year also demonstrated the absurdity of the petitioning period. While we used to petition during the summer, because the period was moved back, it was before the Libertarian National Convention. Potential signers and circulators do not know who the Libertarian Party’s candidate is going to be until it is too late. Some of our petitioners experienced rejection to sign because we had to use a stand-in candidate instead of the actual candidate–who we didn’t know until less than 48 hours before the petitions were due to be filed.”

From 2020 to 2023, the Libertarian Party of New York and the Green Party of New York fought a long court battle to challenge the ballot law changes in 2020, going all the way to request the case be heard by the Supreme Court, but the request was denied (22-893).

“One thing is clear,” continued Kolstee. “This proves that in New York State, a ballot line is only for those in the political class and those with money. But we will keep fighting. People will still have the opportunity to vote for Chase Oliver and Mike ter Maat–either through getting them on the ballot after a court challenge or in a write-in campaign.”

For more information, visit https://lpny.org

Andrew M. Kolstee, Chair
Libertarian Party of New York
+1 716-640-2089
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