We next evaluate the ED, AD, and W requirement in light of precedent. At the outset, we note that the New York legislature in 1992 reduced the number of signatures required for independents from 20,000 to 15,000.
N.Y.Elec.L. § 6–142. According to the record, there were more than 8,700,000 registered voters in New York as of April 1994. Therefore, 15,000 represents less than one percent of the registered voters. In
Storer v. Brown, supra, the Supreme Court upheld a California requirement that petitioners gather in 24 days 325,000 signatures—representing five percent of the total votes in the preceding election.
415 U.S. at 739, 94 S.Ct. at 1283. In
American Party of Texas v. White, 415 U.S. 767, 94 S.Ct. 1296, 39 L.Ed.2d 744 (1974), the Supreme Court upheld Texas's requirement of signatures of one percent of the gubernatorial vote of the preceding election—in that case, 22,000—within 55 days.
Id. at 778, 94 S.Ct. at 1304. And as the intervenors point out, if all of the time that plaintiffs allege was needed to process ED, AD, and W numbers was instead spent gathering signatures, then the plaintiffs could have gathered 45,000 signatures. The plaintiffs themselves state that they would need 30,000 signatures to provide a “safe margin” against challenges. Yet, these figures still represent half of one percent or less of the registered voters of New York. The burden of demonstrating this modicum of support falls well within the constitutional bounds set by
Storer.