Three different women claim top spot in Women’s Equality Party in high level controversy for group | Democracy, elections and voting at Democracy Chronicles

In the article on Ballot Access News, “Three Individuals Now Claim to be Legitimate State Chair of the Women’s Equality Party”, published on September 1, 2015 by Richard Winger, the controversy in the New York-based feminist party is laid out:

Mary Jo Tamberlin has filed paperwork, listing herself as the State Chair of the Women’s Equality Party. She is the clerk to the Niagara County Legislature, and in the recent past has been a leader of the local Republican Party. It is not known if she has changed her registration to list herself as a member of the Women’s Equality Party. There are now three individuals, each seeking to be recognized as the state chair.

New York election law says when a group gets 50,000 votes for Governor, thereby becoming a fully-qualified party, the party’s statewide nominees should decide who the state officers are. The problem in this case is that the party had four nominees for statewide office in 2014, and only two of them have recognized anyone as state chair. Because two is less than a majority of four, there are no party officers who meet the legal standard. New York state could avoid this problem if it required unqualified parties filing general election petitions for Governor to identify their state officers before the election is held. The law could potentially require such groups to list their chair on the petition, an idea is use in some other states. Thanks to Michael Drucker for this news.