Working Families Party is In Danger of Losing Ballot Access if People Don’t Vote on Their Line
Jumaane Williams (in the vote mask) is urging people to vote on the Working Families Party line.
The Working Families Party, which has consistently supported policies to the left of Governor Cuomo, could lose its ability to appear on the ballot if not enough people vote on their ballot line. Under a new state law with stricter rules, independent parties need to get 2% of the vote, or about 130,000 votes, to automatically hold their ballot lines in the next election.
The Working Families Party was a leader in the effort to defeat a break-off group of Democrats know as the IDC that aligned with Republicans and blocked progressive legislation for years. Once the IDC was gone, the state has been able to pass legislation insuring abortion rights and safeguarding rent-stabilized housing.
People can vote for Joe Biden, Kamala Harris and other Democrats on the WFP line, and it counts the same in the total vote tally as it would if they vote on the Democrat line. Some progressives say that Cuomo and the state Democratic party he controls are trying to undermine voters by urging people to vote on the Democratic line, not the WFP line. The Working Families Party endorsed Cynthia Nixon in her primary challenge to the governor in 2018.
Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren criticized the state party for an ad that says that people should vote “Democratic-all the way”, using their images without permission. “Both senators support the Biden-Harris ticket, but want ballots cast for the candidates on the Working Families Party line, which has backed them in the past,” the Times reported. In addition, a top Cuomo aide posted a ballot selfie on Instagram that was captioned “Row A All the Way.” Row A is the Democratic Party line. A spokesman for the governor said it was simply because she “is a proud Democrat and doesn’t apologize for that,” according to Gothamist.
Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and Senator Chuck Schumer are urging people to vote for Biden and Harris on the Working Families line.
Good – they are far left and working to further the De Blasio agenda. Will be voting on the Democrat line and hope they fall off.
“Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and Senator Chuck Schumer are urging people to vote for Biden and Harris on the Working Families line.”
Schumer? Really??? I doubt it… Post a correction-after you have checked with his office!
He’s quoted in a press release about it: “And I encourage New Yorkers to vote for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris on the WFP line – Row D – when they vote early, when they vote by mail, or when they vote on November 3 because it will support the ticket and a progressive New York.”
That’s part of his strategy to fend off a primary challenge from AOC in 2022.
Can someone explain to me how this wfp makes Democrats more unified?
We must support WFP decarceration efforts and welcome these released folks into our neighborhoods. There is way too much money spent on police and prisons that should be spent on nutrition and housing and the environment instead.
@Marti Cassidy: For some reason I am beginning to think you are serious rather than ironic.
Hard for me to grasp that New Yorkers want to see the city go further left given the current state of things. Liberals run virtually unopposed on the UWS. Whats’ the definition of insanity again?
I agree.
Since this is one of the best cities in the world, maybe the definition of insanity would be electing anyone who wants to tear down what we’ve built.
Precisely. No thanks.
Column D for Democracy!
(Working Families is on the D ballot line)
We are a family of 3 on the UES, and we all voted for our favored candidates on the Working Families line on page one. On the verso, we voted all D.
There is another aspect to this voting on the Working Families Party line. But first, let’s remember that it is really Cuomo fils goal to get rid of them, so that he can more easily be re-elected. Recall that the W.F.P. ran a candidate against him for Guv. Now, to my point, a number of years ago, an Upper West Side Democratic Party District Leader urged people to vote in the gubernatorial on the W.F.P. line. So many people took his advice, and did, resulting in that D.L.’s weighted vote (determined by the number of votes cast in his Assembly district for Governor on the Democratic party line) at the Dem. Party’s executive committee (which is all Manhattan’s Dem. “D.L.s”) diminished! Hoisted with his own petard. Poetic justice.
Save NYC. Vote Republican line
I don’t understand New York’s concept of candidates running under multiple parties. What’s the point? It just adds to confusion. Nobody outside of New York thinks of any candidate as a member of the Working Families Party nor the Conservative Party. That’s what the rest of the country calls Democrats and Republicans.
I spent about a decade as a poll worker in Los Angeles and another decade in New York City. New York’s rigidness with parties (need to change you affiliation the year before the election!) and the number of them just seems odd and out-of-date.
Hallelujah!
WFP is just Democrats with a different name. That said, I am totally opposed to efforts to limit ballot access.
a useless collection of dilletantes and wanabe revolutionaries