- Qualified New York parties
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In New York State, to qualify for automatic ballot access, a party must have received at least 50,000 votes in the previous gubernatorial election. They need not run their own candidate, they can nominate a different party's nominee, and if 50,000 voters vote for that candidate on their party line, they have qualified. For statewide and special elections, this means that no petitions have to be filed to gain access to a ballot line, and party organizations can endorse candidates through their own conventions (this does not apply to legislative candidates, who still must petition onto the ballot regardless of party endorsement, but are only required to collect a third of the signatures required of non-qualified parties). Qualified parties also are the only parties eligible to hold primary elections. In addition to determining whether they automatically qualify for the next 4 years, this also determines the order on the ballot.
In the 1994 election, the Democratic Party received the most votes, and so qualified to be first on the ballot for the next 4 years, even though their candidate, incumbent Governor Mario Cuomo lost. George Pataki beat him because he received more votes combined over all of his party lines.
In the 2002 election, 3 qualified parties failed to re-qualify. One of these, the Liberal Party, dates back to 1944, and became dormant as a result of this.
In the 2006 election, 5 parties received at least 50,000 votes, and qualified. They only nominated 2 candidates between them, and were the same five parties that gained qualified status from the previous election; other than the Republicans and Democrats switching places due to Eliot Spitzer's win, the other three parties were in the same order.
Parties that do not qualify automatically can petition their way onto the ballot. For statewide candidates, this requires 15,000 signatures. For example, the Libertarian Party, despite having never registering 50,000 votes in a gubernatorial election, has nonetheless been on the state ballot with a gubernatorial candidate in every election since 1974 because of this process. Unless the gubernatorial candidate receives 50,000 votes, said parties must petition their way onto the ballot for every election they seek, a regulation that qualified parties do not need to follow. These parties also are not eligible to run primaries, and the first person to submit 15,000 signatures automatically gets the party line. (Sam Sloan attempted to use this tactic to take the 2010 Libertarian gubernatorial nomination from party nominee Warren Redlich, but did not have enough signatures to successfully do so.)
Contents
1994
Parties that qualified from the 1994 New York gubernatorial election Party Candidate Votes % ±% Democratic Mario Cuomo 2,272,903 Republican George Pataki 2,156,057 Conservative George Pataki 328,605 Independence B. Thomas Golisano 217,490 Liberal Mario Cuomo 92,001 Right to Life Robert T. Walsh 67,750 Tax Cut Now George Pataki 54,040 1998
Parties that qualified from the 1998 New York gubernatorial election Party Candidate Votes % ±% Republican George Pataki 2,223,264 47.37 +5.82 Democratic Peter Vallone 1,518,992 32.36 −11.44 Independence B. Thomas Golisano 364,056 7.76 +3.57 Conservative George Pataki 348,727 7.43 +1.10 Liberal Betsy McCaughey Ross 77,915 1.66 −0.11 Right to Life Michael Reynolds 56,683 1.21 −0.10 Green Al Lewis 52,533 1.12 +1.12 Working Families Peter Vallone 51,325 1.09 +1.09 2002
Parties that qualified from the 2002 New York gubernatorial election Party Candidate Votes % ±% Republican George Pataki 2,085,407 46.86 −0.51 Democratic Carl McCall 1,443,531 32.44 +0.07 Independence B. Thomas Golisano 654,016 14.70 +6.94 Conservative George Pataki 176,848 3.97 −3.46 Working Families Carl McCall 90,533 2.03 +0.94 2006
Parties that qualified from the 2006 New York gubernatorial election Party Candidate Votes % ±% Democratic Eliot Spitzer 2,740,864 62.85 +30.41 Republican John Faso 1,105,681 25.35 −21.51 Independence Eliot Spitzer 190,661 4.37 −10.32 Conservative John Faso 168,654 3.87 −0.11 Working Families Eliot Spitzer 155,184 3.56 +1.52 2010
Parties that qualified from the 2010 New York gubernatorial election Party Candidate Votes % ±% Democratic Andrew Cuomo 2,610,123 56.08 -6.77 Republican Carl Paladino 1,290,017 27.72 +2.37 Conservative Carl Paladino 232,264 4.99 +1.12 Working Families Andrew Cuomo 154,487 3.32 -0.24 Independence Andrew Cuomo 146,646 3.15 -1.22 Green Party Howie Hawkins 59,928 1.29 +0.40 References
New York political parties Automatic ballot access 
No ballot access Freedom · Liberal · Libertarian · Rent Is Too Damn High · Right to Life · Socialist · Taxpayers/Federalist · Tax RevoltInactive Independence · Independent-Socialist · Law Preservation · Marijuana Reform · Municipal Ownership LeagueCategories:- New York elections
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