Vivian Wang is reporting for The New York Times on the latest installment of the battle over third parties in New York. Jay Jacobs, the chairman of the state Democratic Party, recently disclosed a plan that would essentially neuter the power of most third parties, by increasing the number of votes that a party needs in order to guarantee a place on the ballot in the next election. Currently 50,000 votes are required for a party's gubernatorial candidate to qualify for a place on the ballot. Jacobs is now proposing that number be increased to 250,000. Nearly every minor party has fallen short of collecting 250,000 votes, Wang writes, including, the Working Families Party. Only the Conservative Party has been able to surpass the 250,000 vote mark in recent years. Under Jacob's rule, a candidate would be able to run on both the Conservative and Republican lines, while a liberal candidate would have only the Democratic line available. Jacobs, an Andrew Cuomo appointee, said that his proposal was intended to reduce voter confusion and rooting out corruption among fake parties that trade ballot lines for political favors. Over past few months, Jacobs has all but declared war on third parties, advancing multiple proposals to ban them. The dispute is also the most recent front in the feud between Cuomo and leftist activists and politicians who characterize the governor and his allies as centrists. Read the full story in The New York Times.