Howie Hawkins and the Green Party can now put their names on the line in New York state.
In the November 2010 elections, Hawkins racked up 57,011 votes in his run for governor — not enough to put him in the Albany mansion. But the number does get the Greens on an official ballot line in elections for the next four years. This means the party won’t have to scramble for signatures to fill a petition to get on the ballot. Instead, they’ll only need five percent of registered party voters to sign in order to start campaigning. This is the highest number of votes the Greens have received in over a decade.
With the party’s new-found place on the ballot, said Hawkins, “We’ll have more candidates, stronger campaigns.”
Hawkins, a United Parcel Service worker and perennial candidate from Syracuse, has run in 15 elections — from Common Council member to governor. In his 2010 gubernatorial bid, he won most of his votes in Onondaga County. It gave him five percent — or 7,274 votes — of his total. The high percentage of votes in Onondaga County, he said, is because he has a reputation with local voters.
“People knew me,” said Hawkins. “And that was a big bump.”
An automatic spot on the ballot will allow the Greens more time to fundraise, reach out to voters and promote local campaigns, experts say.
In fundraising, Hawkins brought in $39,930 this year. That’s small change compared to Republican Carl Paladino’s almost $1.6 million and Democrat Andrew Cuomo’s $16 million, according to the New York State Board of Elections.
If the Greens could fundraise even a tenth of what the major parties did, Hawkins said, that would be enough to make them serious contenders. On raising more money, he said, “I think we can potentially have enough to get our message out.”
Peter LaVenia is the co-chair of the Green Party of New York State. Being on the ballot won’t change the party’s goals, he said, but it will allow more contact with voters. Previously, without a spot on the ballot line, the party had about one month to collect signatures. This made the effort to collect signatures run like “a machine,” LaVenia said.
Now, when candidates go door to door, they can spend more time talking to voters and explaining their platform, rather than grabbing a signature and moving on to the next person, he said. “We can go knock on doors,” said LaVenia, “and do what we need to do to run the campaign.”
Jeffrey Stonecash is a professor of political science at Syracuse University, with a focus on electoral behavior and political parties. Regardless of being on the ballot, he said, the Green Party still will not have much relevance at the gubernatorial level in New York. But if the party can get its message out effectively, he said, its endorsement on the ballot might become popular among candidates in smaller races.
“It’s only going to matter if it makes sense that getting their label is worth it,” Stonecash said.
Studies show tangible, measurable results come with a ballot line, said Robert McClure, an SU political scientist specializing in American politics and leadership. In the past, the Green Party’s resonance with voters has not been a result of whether or not it’s on the ballot or how much money it has raised, McClure said. Instead, it’s about promoting the issues and platforms it stands on.
The one guarantee a spot on the ballot gives the Greens, McClure said, is time. How they use, he said, will determine their future. Said McClure, “It depends what they do with the opportunity they have.”
For his party’s goals, Hawkins said, the focus now will be on smaller state and countywide races.
Said Hawkins: “As we start electing local people, they’ll see us not as a protest vote, but as a viable option.”
(Kathleen Ronayne is a junior majoring in newspaper journalism.)
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