What are those green petitions, and why sign?

raulism

Oh, I have a lot of thoughts of the state of New York governance at the moment. Besides the circus in Albany, we're in the petitioning season right now. Those long green petitions allow people to put their names on the ballot. There are a ton of offices up for grab in the upcoming Democratic primary: Public Advocate, Comptroller, many city council seats, some obscure judicial races, and there is supposed to be a mayoral race as well.

If you have any questions about the candidates, I'll be glad to give my opinions, but even more important than whether a candidates is good or bad, I strongly advocate for getting names on the ballot. So remember: If you sign a petition, you don't have to vote for that person. If you sign more than once for a race, only the first signature counts, but it doesn't hurt anyone to have extra signatures, including you.

Prospect Heights lies exclusively in the 35th City Council district, which is now represented by Tish James. She is not restricted from running under the Term Limits law adopted by the voters twice. Nor is she restricted running under the looser version passed by the City Council a few months ago.

Only registered Democrats can join the fun. In effect, whoever wins the Democratic Primary on September 15 will automatically win the office in November, except for the Mayoral race, which is more competitive.

I do have petitions that I am carrying, so if you want more blunt opinions or to sign for one of my people, send me a personal email.

apophis36

A couple random thoughts...

1. Blindly signing anything someone on the street puts in front of you is foolish...You could be signing away your first-born or something...

2. Having many people on the ballot can be a good thing since the voters have lots of choice, but it also probably tends to favor the incumbent, since alternative votes will be split among the different alternatives. The result is that you get something like 40%, 15%, and 10 others splitting the remainder with 1%-10% each...Obviously, depending on your opinion of how the incumbent is doing this can be a good thing or a bad thing...

I'm not saying to sign these things or not...Just remember to think before doing, and consider the motivations of those around you...

raulism

I have to admit that some people sign not looking at the petition at all. But they are highly standardized forms, and it takes a second to looka at it.

Please let me know if anyone has seen a scam based on petitions. I find it unlikely, because there are so many people hiring all sorts of people to get these signatures that if someone is looking to get paid to get signatures, it's likely to be a legit candidate.

Just a wild guess, but there are 90,000 registered Democrats in our City Council district, and it takes 900 valid signatures to get on. One of the important advantages that incumbents have is challenging the petitions of challengers. That's why candidates usually try to get 3,000 signatures- not because it means they'll get 900 valid signatures, but because it will save them the legal fees from an incumbent who has election lawyers at their disposal.

If you want to think about the motivations of the people around you, think of the State Senate and the MTA... but let me stop there before I start foaming at the mouth.

carnivore

FYI, raulism, by encouraging people who may have already signed to sign again, you may be hurting your own candidates. When petitions are challenged (and they almost always are), they will typically throw out an entire page of signatures as invalid if a single name on the page is invalid. Better to make sure that each person signing is a unique valid voter in the district.

apophis36

raulism wrote:
If you want to think about the motivations of the people around you, think of the State Senate and the MTA... but let me stop there before I start foaming at the mouth.

Whoa...I didn't mean to question your motivations in particular, and I apologize if you took it as an insult. I meant to question EVERYONE's...The system is genuinely broken at every level, to the point that I view everyone attached to it with some suspicion... Genuinely encouraging people to participate in the election process, especially off-year ones, is a good thing, and I applaud your efforts for doing so.

raulism

apophis36 wrote: I applaud your efforts for doing so.

Thanks.

Carnivore wrote: FYI, raulism, by encouraging people who may have already signed to sign again, you may be hurting your own candidates. When petitions are challenged (and they almost always are), they will typically throw out an entire page of signatures as invalid if a single name on the page is invalid. Better to make sure that each person signing is a unique valid voter in the district.

You have a point- if a candidate turns in petitions with a lot of invalid signatures, it is more likely to get challenged. We could debate whether or not one invalid signature would invalidate a whole page, but my main point is that the bigger problem is lack of involvement. Ideally, you should keep track of what district you live in and who you have signed for, but not everyone is up to speed.

smokin joe

apophis36 wrote: Having many people on the ballot can be a good thing since the voters have lots of choice, but it also probably tends to favor the incumbent, since alternative votes will be split among the different alternatives. The result is that you get something like 40%, 15%, and 10 others splitting the remainder with 1%-10% each.

this unfortunately is true, and exists because new york state doesn't have runoff elections. hmmm . . . now why would the legislature keep a patently undemocratic law that favors incumbents?

this is also how we in the 11th district got a member of congress who falsely claimed she graduated from college and still won the nomination with only 31 percent of the primary vote while the stronger candidates (yassky and owens) split the progressive vote. ridiculous.

the law should be changed.

neartoms

Do those green petitions need to be signed for both newcomers and incumbents?

I would be glad to sign for Tish James.

raulism

neartoms wrote: Do those green petitions need to be signed for both newcomers and incumbents?

I would be glad to sign for Tish James.

Yup- every candidate has to do it (I don't think City Council candidates can be chosen by a party caucus....). The deadline is July 16 for Democrats and other parties with ballot status, but some candidates chose to submit them as early as July 13th, so you're quite probably too late. After collecting all the signatures, they have to be bound.

Green Party and other parties without ballot status will gather petitions to get on to the November elections, and not the primaries. I think they start gathering signatures in another week or so.

lo kee

guy I saw said somthing about the devil and my soul, i dunno i signed it just to get him out of my face

raulism

Lo Kee wrote: guy I saw said somthing about the devil and my soul, i dunno i signed it just to get him out of my face

I'll have to try that next time I'm out getting petitions.