Women's Equality Party

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The Women's Equality Party is a political party. As of September 2019, it was not a ballot-qualified party in New York.

Note: This party was previously ballot-qualified in New York. As of March 8, 2022, it is no longer ballot-qualified. The content here reflects the most current information as of March 8, 2022.

Background

The Women's Equality Party (WEP) was created by Governor of New York Andrew Cuomo (D) and his political allies on July 17, 2014. Since fusion voting laws in New York allow minor political parties to cross-endorse major party candidates, an endorsement by the WEP allowed Cuomo to gain additional votes through a supplementary ballot line.[1][2]

Lieutenant Governor of New York Kathy Hochul (D) announced the party's formation at an event on Manhattan's Upper West Side. "We will not tolerate elected officials who block our basic rights,” said Hochul. “We will not stand to be treated like second-class citizens. And we will not allow our votes to be taken for granted. It is time women stand up and make our voices heard."[1]

The state required a minimum of 15,000 signatures in order for the party to gain ballot access for the 2014 election cycle. During the election, the WEP ballot line earned more than 50,000 votes, which qualified the party for ballot access through the 2018 elections.[1][3]

Ballot access for political parties

See also: List of political parties in the United States


As of January 2025, there were at least 55 distinct ballot-qualified political parties in the United States. There were 238 state-level parties.[4] Some parties are recognized in multiple states. For example, both the Democratic Party and the Republican Party are recognized in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. These two parties account for more than half of the 238 total state-level parties.[5][6][7] Three minor parties were recognized in more than 10 states as of January 2025:

  1. Libertarian Party: 38 states
  2. Green Party: 23 states[8]
  3. Constitution Party: 12 states[9]

Although there are dozens of political parties in the United States, only certain parties qualify to have the names of their candidates for office printed on election ballots. In order to qualify for ballot placement, a party must meet certain requirements that vary from state to state. For example, in some states, a party may have to file a petition in order to qualify for ballot placement. In other states, a party must organize around a candidate for a specific office; that candidate must, in turn, win a percentage of the vote in order for the party to be granted ballot status. In still other states, an aspiring political party must register a certain number of voters.

The number of ballot-qualified political parties fluctuates as parties gain or lose qualified status. In addition, some states distinguish between major parties and minor parties. Specific differences between major and minor parties differ from state to state. For example, in all states, major parties are granted access to primary elections. Some states, however, do not permit minor parties to participate in primary elections. Consequently, minor party candidates in these states can run only in general elections.[5]

The table below lists all ballot-qualified political parties in each state as of January 2025. Click "[show]" to expand the table.[5]

Opposition

According to The New York Times, the creation of the Women's Equality Party (WEP) allowed Cuomo to gain ground with women voters against his 2014 Republican gubernatorial opponent Rob Astorino, who opposed abortion rights. In response, Astorino created the Stop Common Core Party, which chiefly opposed the adoption of Common Core standards in public schools. The Stop Common Core Party ballot line also received more than 50,000 votes and gained ballot access through the 2018 elections. The group now operates under the Reform Party name.[1][2]

The WEP also allowed Cuomo to siphon votes away from the Working Families Party of New York, which had threatened to endorse Cuomo's Democratic primary opponent Zephyr Teachout in the 2014 gubernatorial race. Following the creation of the WEP, Teachout released a statement claiming, "Governor Cuomo thinks he can buy women’s votes by cynically creating a new party to advertise values he hasn’t fought for in office. A real Democrat would have already passed the Women’s Equality Act and would be fighting for paid family leave.”[1]

Platform

According to the organization's Facebook page, the Women's Equality Party (WEP) supports the following 10 Point Plan:[10]

  • Equal pay
    "Establish pay equity for women."
  • Sexual harassment
    "Stop sexual harassment in every workplace."
  • Pregnancy discrimination
    "Stop businesses from discriminating against pregnant women."
  • Human trafficking
    "Strengthen human trafficking laws."
  • Salary discrimination
    "End hiring and salary discrimination against parents."
  • Landloard discrimination
    "Stop landlord discrimination against women who depend on housing assistance."
  • Housing discrimination
    "Stop housing discrimination for victims of domestic violence."
  • Attorneys' fees
    "Allow for the recovery of attorneys’ fees in employment and credit and lending cases."
  • Domestic violence
    "Protect victims of domestic violence by strengthening order-of-protection laws."
  • Reproductive rights
    "Apply the full standards of Roe v. Wade in New York."

In addition to the 10 Point Plan, the WEP supports "passing new legislation that will subject colleges and universities in New York to new oversight and reform how they handle sexual assaults, including incidents involving rape, that are reported on their campuses."[10]

Rules and bylaws

Candidate ballot access
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Find detailed information on ballot access requirements in all 50 states and Washington, D.C.
See also: Interim Rules of the Women's Equality Party

The state party is governed by a set of rules and bylaws. Typically, these give structure to the different levels of organization—local, county, and state committees—and establish protocol for electing committee members. The bylaws also typically give details on the party's process for nominating and sending delegates to the national party convention during presidential elections. The Women's Equality Party filed interim bylaws with the New York State Board of Elections on July 2, 2015. The following summary of the party's interim rules focuses on the structure and governance of the party:[11]

  • The party's governing structure is made up of an interim state committee, an interim executive committee, and an interim advisory committee.
  • The officers of the interim state committee include the state chair, vice chair, secretary and treasurer.
  • The interim executive committee acts on behalf of the interim state committee when the state committee is not in session.

Convention

The interim bylaws of the Women's Equality Party do not call for a state convention. Political candidates are nominated by the interim executive committee.[11]

Leadership

As of August 2018, the following individuals held leadership positions with the Women's Equality Party:[12]

  • Susan Zimet, Chair
  • Marilyn Tedeschi, Secretary
  • Rachel Damerst Gold, Treasurer

Recent news

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms 'Women's Equality Party. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

Women's Equality Party - Google News

See also

Footnotes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 The New York Times, "Cuomo Allies Plan a Political Party Focusing on Women," July 17, 2014
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Time Warner Cable News NY1, "Future of NY's Women's Equality Party Remains Uncertain," October 6, 2015
  3. ↑ New York Post, "Andrew Cuomo’s accidental lesson in New York’s ridiculous election laws," October 2, 2015
  4. ↑ This total does not include parties that have attained ballot status at the municipal level. Only those parties with state-level ballot status are included here.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Jaime Healy-Plotkin, "Research of state election agency websites and email correspondence with state election agencies," June 2024
  6. ↑ As of January 2025, there were nine state-level parties that called themselves Independent or Independence parties. For the purposes of this article, these were not tallied when counting the number of distinct ballot-qualified parties in the United States because it is difficult to determine to what extent these various parties are affiliated with one another.
  7. ↑ Because Washington utilizes a top-two, nonpartisan primary system, the state does not officially recognize parties. Consequently, only the state's two largest parties, the Democratic and Republican parties, were included in this tally.
  8. ↑ This figure includes the D.C. Statehood Green Party, Maine's Green Independent Party, Oregon's Pacific Green Party, and West Virginia's Mountain Party.
  9. ↑ This figure includes Nevada's Independent American Party and Michigan's U.S. Taxpayers Party.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Facebook, "Women's Equality Party," accessed June 1, 2016
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Scribd, "Rules of the Women's Equality Party of the State of New York," accessed June 1, 2016
  12. ↑ Email correspondence with Susan Zimet on August 14, 2018.
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