It's that time of the year again - persons wishing to run for local or state elective office may be nominated either by a political party or through the filing of an independent nominating petition. If you want to run on a political line, you must be nominated by a party through Caucus (Kirkwood Democrats) or Primary Election (rest of Broome County).
If a party nominates its candidates through the primary election process, party designations for this primary are made on a Designating Petition.
The first day to pass a Designating Petition to appear on a party line is June 5th.
Political parties may nominate a candidate who is not an enrolled member of the political party with a Certificate of Authorization.
The Election Law sets forth the form of this petition; only enrolled members of a party qualified to vote for an office may sign Designating Petitions of the party.
To run for office on a line other than an official party line, one must file an Independent Nominating Petition. The first day to sign an Independent Nomination Petition for a local or state office is July 10th.
The Election Law sets forth the form of this petition; any registered voter who has not already signed a designating petition, and who is qualified to vote for an office, may sign an independent nominating petition for that office.
If you have not received Authorization to seek a line, one can challenge the party with an Opportunity to Ballot Petition, which is a petition of enrolled members of a party requesting an opportunity to write in the name of an undesignated candidate running for a public office in the State & Local Primary Election, effectively running a write-in campaign.
For petition signature requirements and more information visit our Politics page and view our 2018 Running for Elective Office Book (for a quick link, just click the book cover at the left).