Free & Equal, Inc. Announces Successful Petitioning in New York

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 2, 2009 –The State of New York has some of the most archaic rules to for petitioning candidates to follow in the nation. A focus on bureaucratic and clerical errors instead of voter eligibility often means that candidates who collected enough signatures are kicked off the ballot anyway.

Free & Equal, Inc. coordinated the signature petition drives for several candidates in New York state.

In the City of Rochester, NY the Democratic Party has controlled every single elected office for more than 30 years. The Democratic Committee claims this is because people are satisfied with their leadership. In reality, the Democratic Committee uses the petition challenge process to deny voters a choice.

Candidate for School Board Chris Edes’ Libertarian petition signatures, gathered by Free & Equal, faced an individual challenge brought by Marcos Cruz, son of Democratic City Council candidate Jose Cruz. Edes’ earlier petition for the Democratic party was also challenged. However, the Democratic signatures Free & Equal collected were of such high quality that the challenges failed without any defense being necessary.  After this, the challenger to Edes’ Libertarian party signatures simply gave up.

Edes was the only candidate in Rochester to survive a petition challenge.

“Free and Equal’s knowledge of ballot access issues and enthusiasm for democracy is an invaluable asset, for all who value popular government, and believe in the promise of freedom on which our nation was founded,” said the candidate.

Edes has received endorsements from across the political spectrum: the Libertarian Party, the Green Party and the Republican Liberty Caucus have all endorsed his candidacy. The broad range of endorsements exposes the discontent with Rochester’s one-party rule, that the petition challenges sought to conceal.

In the race for New York City Council, Free & Equal helped coordinate the petitioning for Dan Halloran, candidate for the 19th council district. Halloran has secured the ballot lines of the Conservative, Independence, Libertarian, and Republican Parties. Halloran’s signatures easily exceeded the requirements, and his signatures were not challenged.

“Free and Equal hit the ground running and helped secure the signatures to obtain four lines in a competitive New York City Council race: they were simply the best,” Said Halloran.

Also in New York City, the Reverend Billy Talen for Mayor campaign turned in over 18,000 signatures to the Board of Elections –more than double the requirement for Independent candidates. The signature drive, in which over 110 individual petition circulators participated, was coordinated by Free & Equal, Inc.

Two independent candidates for mayor were challenged and thrown off the ballot. None of the signatures Free & Equal, Inc. gathered for Talen were challenged. Talen is running on the Green Party line.

“We’re proud of our ability to increase the choices on the ballot for voters in New York,” said Free & Equal Petitioning Coordinator Sean Haugh. “Until we can change the laws so they are equal for all candidates, Free and Equal will continue to overcome these insane bureaucratic requirements for candidates all across the political spectrum, all across the country.  Our goal is to take this burden off the candidates’ shoulders so they can concentrate on how best to serve the people.”

Free & Equal, Inc. is a petitioning firm specializing in ballot access for independent and third party candidates. Headed by ballot access crusader Christina Tobin, Free & Equal, Inc. is a non-partisan firm that works with candidates from across the political spectrum. Free & Equal, Inc. does not endorse any candidates for office.

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