The Working Families Party is facing an increasingly existential threat, seemingly, from the public financing commission.
First, it was the potential end or curtailing of fusion voting that threatened the liberal ballot line’s status.
Now, as The New York Times reported this morning, the commission through state Democratic Committee Chairman Jay Jacobs may raise the threshold of votes needed to retain ballot status from 50,000 to 250,000 for the gubernatorial election. The move would hurt third parties like the WFP, and also the Green Party.
Hours later on Tuesday, the WFP got some public backing from Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren, the Massachusetts senator whose White House bid the party has endorsed.
“This proposal comes from, of all places, a commission meant to improve our democracy,” Warren wrote on Twitter. “But attacking the @NYWFP is deeply undemocratic—and it will only benefit Republicans. No Democrat should allow this to pass.”
Minor ballot lines have been a staple in New York elections for generations. And candidates for governor have created ballot lines to push key issues. Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who has battled the WFP over the years, created the Women’s Equality Party. Republican Rob Astorino formed the Stop Common Core ballot line in the wake of opposition to the state-imposed standards.
- New York Comptroller Urges Commission To Keep Fusion Voting
- Republicans Blast New York Public Financing Commission
- Cuomo Doubles Down On Jacobs and Fusion Voting
But the enmity between Cuomo and the WFP is the prologue to much of the dispute right now over what the commission will ultimately do not just with public financing — a key issue for progressive groups — but also how elections are potentially conducted in New York.