New York State

Could coronavirus keep candidates off the ballot?

Rep. Jerrold Nadler joins growing calls for reduced petitioning requirements.

Social distancing to slow the spread of the coronavirus will put a hitch in candidates petitioning and canvassing.

Social distancing to slow the spread of the coronavirus will put a hitch in candidates petitioning and canvassing. Bryan J. Scrafford

This month in New York, candidates for office and their teams have been knocking on doors, shaking hands and sharing pens and with as many people as they can. It’s petitioning season, when candidates need to get residents of their district to sign a sheet saying their name deserves to be on the ballot. 

But it’s also coronavirus season, and the petitioning process seems tailor-made to spread germs. 

So in the last few days, candidates have been stuck with a difficult choice: keep petitioning, potentially putting staffers – and vulnerable voters – at risk, or stop petitioning, and risk not making the ballot. 

Many candidates have taken matters into their own hands. Rep. Carolyn Maloney announced on Thursday that she would immediately suspend petitioning, and that she wouldn’t challenge any of her opponents’ signatures. Michael Weinstock, a Democratic congressional candidate on Long Island, announced Friday that he would stop petitioning too. Same for Jason Salmon, a Democratic state Senate candidate in Brooklyn. 

Since candidates typically have to collect two to three times the minimum amount of signatures in order to withstand a potential challenge, pledges like Maloney’s would effectively limit the number of signatures her opponents would need to gather. 

Of course, politics is politics, and nothing can stop an inspired volunteer. Maloney’s campaign denied knowledge of it, but a Manhattanite tweeted on Friday that somebody was still gathering signatures for Maloney.

Apart from voluntary steps, some New Yorkers are now calling on Gov. Andrew Cuomo to take official action. “It would be better if there was an edict from on high to either stop the petition process or say, ‘Let’s reduce the petitions,’” said Lupe Todd-Medina, a Democratic strategist working with candidates trying to get on the Democratic primary ballot in June.

“We’re being encouraged by the governor and the mayor to practice social distancing,” Todd-Medina added. “To then ask volunteers to put themselves in a situation where they’re not practicing social distancing seems hypocritical.”

Rep. Jerry Nadler joined dozens of candidates and political organizations at a virtual press conference Friday asking for petitioning requirements to be changed. “I’ve asked the governor to use his emergency powers to drastically reduce the number of signatures that any candidate needs,” said Nadler, who’s facing several primary challengers this cycle. “This is the prudent thing to do.”

Candidates were able to start collecting signatures on Feb. 25, and all petitions are due by April 2. The signatures required vary by office, from 500 for a state Assembly hopeful to 1,250 for a congressional candidate to 2,000 for a candidate for borough president.

The goal of changing the requirements has united establishment incumbents and upstart insurgents, candidates from across the city and the state and members of both parties. Westchester Republican Party Chairman Doug Colety has called for the requirements to be altered or eliminated, while state Sen. Julia Salazar, a democratic socialist from Brooklyn, tweeted her frustrations, saying, “The requirements should be adjusted to reflect the state of emergency.” Nadler and long-time Manhattan Assemblyman Richard Gottfriend joined the virtual press conference on Friday, but so did Shaniyat Chowdhury and Melanie D’Arrigo, who are challenging congressional incumbents – and Nadler’s colleagues – in the June primary. 

The candidates may get their wish, but not immediately. At a press conference on Friday, Cuomo said that petitioning was “something we have to address,” but didn’t elaborate on any plans.

The state Legislature may take action too. Assemblyman Nader Sayegh told the Journal News that he’s introducing a bill to reduce the number of required signatures by one third, in counties stricken by the outbreak. Sayegh’s district is in Westchester County, which saw some of the state’s earliest coronavirus cases and has been hit hard by the outbreak. Colety, the leader of the Westchester Republican Party, called for the state to suspend early voting or go to an all-paper vote, in order to limit the number of voters touching the same screens.

State Sen. James Skoufis also announced that he will introduce a bill on Monday that would postpone New York’s April 28 Democratic presidential primary until June 23 – the same day as state and congressional primaries. 

Actions taken to slow the spread of coronavirus may affect elections in other ways, too. New York City Councilman Donovan Richards, a leading candidate in the March 24 special election for Queens borough president, has called on the governor and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio to postpone that election – although that step has not been taken so far.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.