Poll shows support for third-party ballot access
Chris Bragg | on November 14, 2019
ALBANY — A substantial majority of New York voters oppose making it more difficult for minor political parties to qualify for the ballot, according to a poll recently conducted by Public Policy Polling, a Democratic firm based in North Carolina.
A nine-member commission appointed by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and legislative leaders is ironing out sweeping changes to New York's campaign finance system. Its recommendations are due Dec. 1, and will be binding unless the Legislature reconvenes by year's end to change them.
The poll, which was conducted earlier this week among 661 New York voters, found 64 percent of respondents opposed making ballot access more difficult for third parties: 40 percent "strongly" opposed the idea, while 24 percent "somewhat" opposed it.
On the other side, 11 percent strongly supported the idea and 14 percent somewhat supported it. Ten percent of voters were unsure.
Jay Jacobs, the state Democratic Party chairman and a Cuomo appointee to the commission, has broached the notion of raising the threshold for minor political parties – such as the Working Families, Conservative and Green parties – to qualify for ballot status in New York, from 50,000 votes to 250,000.
Currently, if a minor party gets 50,000 votes for its candidate for governor in elections held once every four years, it retains ballot status and significantly more influence. Jacobs has also suggested requiring parties to hit the threshold every two years rather than every four.
Jacobs' proposal prompted special backlash from the liberal WFP, which asserts Cuomo is seeking revenge after the progressive party endorsed his 2018 Democratic primary challenger, Cynthia Nixon. If the threshold were raised to 250,000, it could become difficult if not impossible for most minor parties to maintain their ballot lines. (In 2018, only the two major parties and the Conservatives managed to clear 250,000 votes.)
The poll also asked the New York voters if they would favor Cuomo and the Legislature stepping in if the commission failed to meet various goals to reduce the influence of big money in politics.
Of the voters polled, 29 percent strongly supported that action, while 26 percent somewhat supported the idea. Fourteen percent were somewhat opposed and 19 percent strongly opposed.
Voters were split on whether they were more likely to throw their local lawmakers out of office over a failure to pass strong campaign finance reform. Of the voters polled, 37 percent said it would not make a difference to them, while a combined 43 percent said it would make them less likely to support their local officials.
Similarly split numbers were found concerning voters' opinions of Cuomo, and whether they would change over this issue.
Overall, 75 percent of the respondents either strongly or somewhat supported a proposal to a create a public campaign finance system that would use "limited public funds to match small contributions made to candidates for state offices, and create an independent enforcement unit to safeguard state elections from fraud and abuse."
While liberals generally support publicly funded elections, Republican elected officials in New York have largely opposed the concept, deeming it a waste of money.
Following a commission meeting on Wednesday, several good-government groups said the panel was heading in the wrong direction, in particular noting donation limits it is poised to adopt for state Senate and Assembly that would remain high by the standards of other states across the country.
The poll was funded by Citizen Action of New York, a liberal advocacy group. Citizen Action is part of a broader coalition, Fair Elections New York, which consists of over 200 organizations, including several nonpartisan government-reform groups, unions, the Working Families Party and a number of other left-leaning organizations. The coalition has the stated intention is to reduce the influence of big money in New York politics.
"New Yorkers support real campaign finance reform because we know that we must break the reign of real estate, Wall Street, and business interests in order to create real progress for our communities," said Jawanza James Williams, director organizing at advocacy group VOCAL-NY, a member of the coalition. This poll "backs up that those demands are popular across this state. If this commission keeps heading in the wrong direction, it's clear New Yorkers agree it is the responsibility of our elected leaders to step in. We won't let them forget it."
The voters identified as being 44 percent from New York City, 15 percent Long Island, 8 percent Lower Hudson Valley, and 33 percent from upstate New York.
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