Fellow Libertarians:
As we approach Election Day, we want to highlight two local candidates working to bring liberty to Chemung County and how the write-in campaign for Larry Sharpe for Governor will help future statewide candidates! To understand the hurdles to ballot access, let’s drill it down a bit!
Craig Colwell and Nick Grasso, Chair of the Chemung County Libertarian Party, each initially got on this year’s ballot with support from their local Conservative Party. With just 5 signatures apiece, gathered during the February 15-April 5 Designating Petition period, they secured the Conservative line on the November ballot. Comparatively, in order to have their names on the Libertarian line, 72 signatures needed to be collected from April 12-May 31 period for the Independent nominating petitions period.
The reason why fewer signatures are needed to get on the Conservative Party ballot line is due to the fact that the Conservative Party is a ballot-access party in New York for 2021 and 2022 by receiving over 2% of the vote (160,000+ votes) for their presidential candidate in 2020. Meanwhile, Libertarians missed that requirement in 2020 when our Presidential candidate Jo Jorgenson received under the 130,000 vote threshold in New York.
Craig Colwell is an Elmira resident running for Chemung County Legislator in District 12. He is a husband, father, and small business owner, and has served the Libertarian Party of New York as a representative on the State Committee from Judicial District 6, and as Vice-Chair of the Chemung County Party. Nick Grasso currently serves on the Elmira City Council, where he’s already established himself as a principled Libertarian. He has voted consistently against raising taxes and against salary increases for elected officials. He also took a strong stand against COVID restrictions and lockdowns in the City of Elmira. Find more information on both candidates and how you can support them through the links below.
One way to regain our ballot access for local and statewide candidates is to write in Larry Sharpe for Governor. Obtaining ballot access is essential for local and statewide candidates to have the same petitioning requirements as the major parties. The duopoly under Andrew Cuomo decided to stamp out the possibility for a truly independent third party to get started at the local level. Let’s get it back!
Supporting our proud local Libertarian candidates by supporting their campaigns as well as future local candidates by writing in Larry Sharpe for Governor will give future candidates a realistic chance to have their names printed on their local ballot for local offices, without us having to endorse one of the duopoly candidates for Governor or President.
The following are the Libertarian Party candidates for statewide office. They will not appear on the printed ballot, and so voting for these candidates can only be done on the “write-in” line, depicted below.
- Larry Sharpe for Governor
- Andrew C. Hollister for Lt. Governor
- William K. Schmidt for Attorney General
- Sean C. Hayes for Attorney General
- Thomas D. Quiter for U.S. Senate
