BUFFALO, N.Y. -- New York is the only state in the country where voters have only two choices on the ballot for president.

Green Party of New York Co-Chair Gloria Mattera chalks that up to a 2020 state budget provision that increased the threshold for automatic party ballot access to 2% or 130,000 votes, whichever is higher, in presidential and gubernatorial elections.

Spectrum News
By Ryan Whalen
November 4, 2024

"The Democratic Party behaves like a cartel. They want to eliminate all competition rather than try and to listen to what voters want and respond to that," Mattera said.

After losing automatic access four years ago, the Green Party is trying again to get it back. The state party and candidate Jill Stein's campaign spent roughly $300,000 in an attempt to reach the necessary 45,000 valid signatures to petition to get on the ballot.

That's also up from 15,000 prior to 2020.

"We came close," Mattera said. "We had 42,000 or so raw signatures but that was not enough to meet the requirement. We were not given ballot status."

Two minor parties are on the ballot. Under the state's fusion voting rules, all votes cast for a ticket are tallied together, even if the candidates are on multiple lines.

Working Families Party Co-Director Jasmine Gripper said the party is working hard to get people to select Kamala Harris on its line.

"We're spending upwards to half a million dollars just on our vote WFP effort to make sure we maintain our access to the ballot and maintain our status as a political party," Gripper said.

The state Conservative Party, meanwhile, is spending about $50,000, but Chair Jerry Kassar said its various county organizations are also investing to ensure people vote on their line.

"As many as who can afford to be engaged financially are engaged. Supporting President Trump is a very popular position with the party local groups so they want to put the money behind it," he said.

Kassar believes the 2% threshold will be about 180,000 votes, a number conservatives easily reached the past two presidential elections with Trump as their candidate. It will be more difficult for the Green Party, which is staging a write-in campaign for Stein.

It's a heavy lift, but even if they get there, it's uncertain because write-in votes are technically for independent candidates, not necessarily attributed to a specific party. The Green Party and Stein have submitted paperwork for a formal write-in candidacy to the state board of elections and the party says in this scenario, if the state doesn't recognize its automatic access, it is prepared to go to court.