| Libertarian Party of NY -- Petitioning Tips |
The issue is that some folks will say they are registered to vote when they aren't. Maybe they think they are. New York state will drop someone from the rolls if they haven't voted in a long time. For local campaings, it pays to buy the CD of registered voters, and to check the signatures you get before handing them in. Petitioning Tips...Do we ever get challenged?
If we can't do that, we need to collect almost twice as many signatures as the 'nomal' number. For statewide races, where the minimum required is 15,000, we need to collect almost 30,000 to be challenge-proof. We have done it with less, but that's risking a lot of work by the folks who got the first 16 or 17 thousand signatures...
Someone wrote, our candidates are almost never challenged. Not true.
Scott Hurst, running for Binghamton city council in 1999, survived challenges at county Board of Elections, state Supreme Court and the Appellate Division.
1994 gubernatorial candidate Robert Schulz was thown off the ballot by the state, but a favorable decision from a federal judge helped Bob and his supporters get back on the ballot.
I recall something about a LP candidate for US Representative on Long Island withdrawing from the race because challengers threatened to charge him with submitting fraudulent petitions.
An attorney for state Republicans challenged my petitions for the Freedom Party line in a 1996 race for state senate. I survived his bluff. I even challenged discrepencies in the incumbent's petition but I lost over technical issues regarding service of the specifics to the incumbent.
Note that insurgents in major party primaries routinely are challenged with extreme prejudice. This is not a game where underdogs can play fast and loose with the rules.
Dave Harnett
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