Irrational New York Rules for Petitioning Period Prevent Libertarian Party from Running for U.S. Senate in New York This Year

New York state is operating under a court order that says the petitioning period for state and local office, for independent candidates and the nominees of unqualified parties, is the period July 10 through August 21. But, the petitioning period for federal office is June 19-July 31.

These rules are completely irrational. Most states don’t care how early a petition begins to start. Because the Libertarian Party is not a qualified party in New York, it must obey these rules. But if the Libertarian Party were to circulate a petition this year that includes both Governor and U.S. Senator, the period would be July 10 through July 31, only three weeks.

In theory the party could circulate one petition for U.S. Senate, and a separate petition for Governor, but that would be a great deal of work, so the party is staying out of the U.S. Senate race, and its 2018 statewide petition just has Governor and the other statewide state offices (Lieutenant Governor paired with Governor; Attorney General; Comptroller).

Everything in this post relates to any other unqualified party as well, but as far as is known, the Libertarian Party is the only unqualified party that expects to circulate a statewide petition in New York this year.