Independence Party wants open primary voting State chairman would let unenrolled voters cast ballots in party

Independence Party wants open primary voting
State chairman would let unenrolled voters cast ballots in party's primaries.

December 01, 2002

By Marc Humbert
AP Political Writer

Albany -The head of New York's Independence Party wants to shake up the way primaries are used to select general election candidates in the state.

State Chairman Frank Mac-Kay said he will ask his party's state committee to approve opening Independence Party primaries for statewide offices, including governor and U.S. senator, to the almost 2.26 million New Yorkers registered to vote, but not enrolled in any political party.

It is a proposal that could have a major impact on the state's political system, giving a voice to unaffiliated voters, commonly known as independents, much earlier in the electoral process.

"These voters are currently left out of a critical phase in the electoral process - the selection of general election candidates in party primaries - a price they have been forced to pay in order to assert their independence from the corruption of a two-party system," MacKay said.

It could also make it easier for MacKay to hand the party's nominations to major-party candidates, something that could help keep the Ross Perot-inspired party alive in the absence of a wealthy candidate for governor such as its three-time loser, billionaire B. Thomas Golisano.

In New York, minor parties must win at least 50,000 votes for their candidates for governor every four years to maintain their automatic ballot lines and recognition as political parties.

That can be tough without a self-financed or big-name candidate, a lesson learned this year by the anti-abortion Right to Life Party, the environment-oriented Green Party and the Liberal Party. Unofficial returns show all three failed in this year's gubernatorial race to crack the 50,000-vote threshold.

MacKay said he expects the party's state committee members to overwhelmingly approve his proposal at its next meeting, Feb. 1 in Albany.

"It's an idea that's catching on and it's long overdue," he said.

But like most things political in New York, nothing is quite as simple as it might appear.

While MacKay believes a vote by his party's state committee should be sufficient to open up the primary, a spokesman for the state Board of Elections said that is not the case.

Lee Daghlian said state law governing primaries "says only enrolled members of that party can vote in its primaries."

"The statute would have to be changed," he said.

That is considered highly unlikely given that Democrats control the state Assembly in New York and Republicans rule in the state Senate and neither party has shown any inclination to open up primaries to non-enrolled voters.

"Those who want to participate in a particular party's selection of candidates should enroll in that party," said Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, a Democrat, when asked about Mac-Kay's proposal.

Failing to win approval from the state Legislature for a change in the law, Daghlian said the Independence Party might try the federal courts. That is something MacKay thinks is likely.

"We may have to sue the state Board of Elections to allow this to happen," the party chairman said.