Stein seeks election reform

Green Party presidential candidate hopes to offer voters choice other than Biden, Trump

“New Yorkers, like the rest of Americans, are hungry for other choices and other voices and for candidates who reflect the deeply felt needs and wishes of New Yorkers.”

Jill Stein

ALBANY — Presidentialhopeful Jill Stein made an appearance at the Capitol on Tuesday to push for changes to New York’s ballot access restrictions.

Stein, who is a Green Party candidate, said that “it’s no simple matter” for third-party and independent candidates to meet the state’s requirements.

New York lawmakers in 2020 increased the number of required petitions from 15,000 signatures to 45,000. Under former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, the rules also were changed for party qualifications — receiving at least 50,000 votes in gubernatorial elections to getting 2 percent of the vote for the top office in elections every other year.

Stein said New York is one of the most difficult states for third-party candidates, but said the Green Party would continue to petition and collect signatures because they need to be on the ballot “to truly contest for power.” The independent petitioning period began Tuesday.

Stein’s push for the White House — which she also ran for under the Green Party in 2012 and 2016 — comes as many polls show many voters across America would like options other than President Joe Biden and former President Donald J. Trump, the presumptive Democratic and Republican nominees, respectively.

“In the current environment where the two major party candidates are historically unpopular and widely rejected, New Yorkers, like the rest of Americans, are hungry for other choices and other voices and for candidates who reflect the deeply felt needs and wishes of New Yorkers,” Stein said.

The Green Party front-runner is pushing for passage of a universal, free health care plan, the Green New Deal and an end to what she calls the “genocide in the Middle East.” Stein has also expressed support for expanded access to abortion services, which she said Democrats have failed to deliver on after promising voters a codified version of Roe v. Wade.

“It makes a great political campaign, but unfortunately women have been thrown to the dogs on this over and over again,” Stein said.

Will Waldron/times Union Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein holds a news conference at the Capitol on Tuesday in Albany. Stein called for reforms of state ballot access restrictions.