NY Opportunity-to-Ballot

In NY, Opportunity to Ballot means voters are free to write any individual's name in. An opportunity to ballot is the result of petitioning within an election district and if valid petitions are submitted with enough signatures, this opens the the ballot for a write-in.

Monroe County has no shortage of primaries, with the number of contests for a spot on the November ballot being one of the highest in the county’s recent history. Enough interest has been generated that on Sept. 15 primaries will select 35 candidates for the general election. The relatively high number of primaries may be a sign of a surge in grass-roots politics — a belief that local elections make a difference.

In Mendon, for example, there are two “opportunity-to-ballot” primaries for the Independence Party line. These primaries give voters in that party an opportunity to write in a candidate on primary day. Signatures from just 5 percent of the 259 Independence voters in Mendon were needed to hold such a primary. For the Independence line for supervisor, no candidate is on the ballot, so whoever gets the most write-in votes wins that party’s line on the general ballot. And for town justice, Cara Briggs, who is the Republican candidate for town justice, got the Independence Party’s endorsement and then obtained the necessary 13 signatures to qualify for the ballot. But a primary was forced because a petitioner obtained the needed 13 votes to allow write-ins.

Clarkstown.

John Maloney & George Hoehmann are the endorsed candidates of the Working Families Party, but their endorsements are being threatened by a pair of party raiders. So you can imagine our surprise when the Board of Elections notified us of Opportunity to Ballot petitions filed for Clarkstown Town Council, which forces a write in primary and jeopardizes John Maloney’s endorsement.

Columbia County Democrats will be fighting a number of Opportunity to Ballot petitions

Hudson

Ward 4, District 1: Supervisor

Vote for one: Independence Party; opportunity to ballot

Vote for one: Conservative Party; Samuel Santiago, opportunity to ballot

Canaan

District 1 and 2: Supervisor

Vote for one: Independence Party; Party Richard Keaveney, opportunity to ballot

Vote for one: Conservative Party; Richard Keaveney, opportunity to ballot

Copake

District 1 and 2: Town Justice

Vote for one: Independence Party; Brian J. Herman, William Kane

District 1 and 2: Assessor

Vote for one: Independence Party; David Gordineer, Loredana Delventhal

Taghkanic

District 1: Supervisor

Vote for one: Independence Party; Elizabeth L. Young, Loretta Hoffmann

District 1: Town Clerk/Tax Collector

Vote for one: Independence Party; Cheryl E. Rogers, opportunity to ballot

District 1: Town Justice

Vote for one: Working Families Party; opportunity to ballot

District 1: Town Council

Vote for two: Independence Party; Tom Kiely, Larry Kadish, opportunity to ballot

District 1: Town Council

Vote for two: Working Families Party; Joyce Thompson, opportunity to ballot

District 1: Highway Superintendent

Vote for one: Independence Party; Edward E. Waldron, opportunity to ballot

Vote for one: Working Families Party; opportunity to ballot

Independents and minor parties are alive and doing well in NY.

Michael H. Drucker
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