Is New York’s Candidate Ballot Access Process Poised for a Radical Change?
By: Joseph T. Burns
New York State has long been known for its complicated election laws and high barriers for candidates to get onto the ballot. Just this year, over 125 lawsuits have been filed in New York State courts by those seeking to disqualify candidates from the ballot and candidates seeking to get back onto the ballot after their designating petitions were disqualified by a Board of Elections. In Empire State politics, having an experienced legal team is as important to a campaign as an aggressive communications strategy or an effective get-out-the-vote operation.
But a bill currently pending in the state legislature could radically change New York’s election law and simplify the process by which candidates qualify for the ballot. The proposal, which was introduced by members of the Assembly and Senate Democratic majorities, would establish a process allowing candidates from town clerk to Member of Congress to bypass the process of circulating party designating petitions and obtain an automatic spot on the ballot through the vote of a party committee.
The bill gives local party committees – through a weighted vote of party committee members – the ability to give candidates a spot on the party’s primary ballot. Candidates receiving a majority of the party’s weighted vote become the party’s designee and receive a spot on the primary ballot; any candidate receiving at least 25% of the party’s weighted vote can request that their name be placed on the primary ballot. All other potential candidates would still have the ability to petition their way onto the ballot.
Candidates for town office, city office, county office, state legislature, and even Congress would all be able to take advantage of this new ballot access process. Whether the office was entirely within one county or one that includes portions of multiple counties would be irrelevant.
This scheme should look familiar to New York politicos and political junkies. It’s modeled off the system in place for statewide candidates for office.
There are two large exceptions to the process the bill would establish. First, the new system would not apply to town office nominations where a party nominates by caucus instead of primary. In many of the smaller, rural counties in Upstate New York, town candidate nominations by party caucus remains common.
The other major exception is that the bill would not apply in the state’s largest municipality – New York City. The system currently in place where candidates must petition their way onto the ballot would remain for all candidates running within New York City as well as those multicounty offices that include a portion of New York City.
It’s hard to predict the likelihood of this bill becoming law in 2026. While it does have a majority party sponsor in each house of the state legislature, it still remains in committee in both the Assembly and Senate.
The bill, however, has a key booster. The bipartisan Election Commissioners Association endorsed the proposal, and its approval is an item on the association’s 2026 legislative agenda.
New York’s 2026 legislative session doesn’t end until June, so plenty of time remains for the state legislature to pass this bill. But change often happens slowly in Albany, and it would surprise no one that New York’s state legislators – all of whom are elected to their positions – might not be ready to embrace such a monumental change to the state’s election law.
In the meantime, the 100-plus election-related lawsuits will wind their way through New York’s state courts, and the Empire State will continue to live up to its well-deserved reputation for having America’s most byzantine election rules.
Please reach out to New York election lawyer, Joe Burns, should you have any questions or need assistance.
