Minor Parties Stall at Supreme Court

A bid by minor political parties to make it easier to get a ballot line in New York fell flat as the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear their challenge of the new laws that restricted them. 

In past elections, parties such as the Libertarians and Greens had space for their endorsed candidates under the main parties, Democrat and Republican, which occupy Rows A and B, respectively. Election Laws required a party to get at least 50,000 votes statewide for one of their candidates, usually for governor, to stay on the ballot. The legislature upped the threshold to 130,000 votes, and the matter was challenged all the way to the doorstep of the nation’s highest court. 
Under new rules passed in 2020, the Green and Libertarian parties didn’t make it onto the ballot, while the Conservatives and Working Families held on.

Garnering votes on multiple lines gives candidates an edge and opens up the electoral system to deal-making between office holders looking to stay in power and the parties that support them, critics say.