He didn't get the notority that some of his third-party colleagues received after the only gubernatorial debate, but Green Party candidate Howie Hawkins did manage to accomplish a great feat for his party Tuesday.
Hawkins goal was to gain at least 50 thousand votes — guaranteeing his party a line on the ballot in all elections in New York for the next four years. And, it's a goal he reached. At last check with 97 percent of the precincts reporting, Hawkins garnered 57,083 votes.
Without a lot of cash, Hawkins campaign relied on shoe leather. In fact, the Central New York native took ten weeks off from work to run for the state's highest post.
"We can call a meeting in early June and have people fill out our petitions and we're done," said Hawkins.
"We've got the signatures we need, instead of waiting until July, turning them in in late August, getting challenged and, by the time the process on the challenges is completed, it's early October, often, before we're certified on the ballot."
Hawkins says the easier ballot procedures moving forward will allow the Green Party to run hundreds of candidates for offices on both the state and local level.
Meanwhile, the Libertarian candidate, Warren Redlich, saw a surge of support after the debate from Republicans that were unhappy with their party's nominee, Carl Paladino. However, Redlich came just short with about 45 thousand votes.
And despite becoming a folk hero and internet sensation overnight following the October debate, Jimmy McMillan also failed to reach that 50k mark, which means it's back to the drawing board for candidates in the future seeking to run on the "Rent is 2 Damn High" party.
