With less than six months remaining until Election Day, third party presidential campaigns have come to New York to submit petitions to appear on the Empire State’s ballot. Independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Green Party candidate Jill Stein and Libertarian candidate Chase Oliver were at least three of the candidates to submit petitions.
Candidates for president must receive 270 electoral votes to be elected president of the United States, which means New York’s 28 electoral votes can play a major role in whoever is elected president. New York’s electoral votes haven’t gone to a non-Democrat since 1984.
In 2020, the Green Party ticket, which was headed by perennial New York gubernatorial candidate Howie Hawkins, received less than 0.4% of the total vote. The Libertarians fared slightly better with their candidate, Jo Jorgensen, receiving 0.7% of the total vote. There were no independents on New York’s presidential ballot in 2020.
Stein, a former member of the Lexington, Massachusetts Town Meeting Board, is making her third run for the presidency after running in 2012 and 2016. Oliver, the Libertarian, is making his first run for the presidency after garnering 2% of the vote in the first round of the U.S. Senate race in Georgia in 2022. Kennedy, the son of former New York U.S. Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, is running as an independent after dropping his primary challenge to President Biden in late 2023.
For a candidate to appear on the ballot that does not have the backing of one of the parties with automatic ballot access, a candidate must submit 45,000 signatures or 1% of the total number of votes in the prior gubernatorial election, whichever is less. At least 500 of the signatures each must come from half of the congressional districts in the state.
Candidates can qualify as a write-in candidate if they declare their intent with the Board of Elections by the third Tuesday prior to the general election.
