(The Center Square) – We the People is now an official party in North Carolina, the North Carolina Board of Elections voted on Tuesday.
In the same meeting, the board denied access to the Justice for All Party.
We the People, which supports Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for president, was approved 4-1. Justice for All Party, which supports Cornel West for president, was denied 3-2. The decisions impact each respective party’s options to run a candidate for any office in North Carolina, not just president.
“Recognition of this party means voters now have eight choices of party affiliation when registering to vote or updating an existing registration,” a statement from the board said.
There are no plans to reconsider the Justice for All Party.
Republicans on the panel expressed their discontent with the move to deny access to either of the parties. Both exceeded the number of signatures required to qualify.
“I do think this board is making a tragic error in not deferring to the verified signatures that have been determined through our county board process,” said board member Stacy Eggers, a Republican.
The party-line decision was made at a board meeting Tuesday morning, with Chairman Alan Hirsch, Jeff Carmon and Siobhan Millan, all Democrats, voting against the Justice for All Party. Kevin Lewis and Eggers, both Republicans, voted to approve.
Hirsch put a caveat on his vote, and his words seemed to attach to two years ago when the Green Party was denied by the state board then won in court – albeit too late for the midterms. The state board – i.e., taxpayer dollars – was ordered to pay legal fees of the victorious plaintiff.
“I’m not sure the board should be the one that is standing in the way if someone wants to challenge that in court,” he said. “They are welcome to do so and I think they have a good case, but, again, I think it’s a very close call.”
This comes after a month-long scandal that began with both parties, plus the Constitution Party, denied access to the ballot.
This led to an inquiry into the board’s decision being opened in early July by the Judiciary Committee and House Administration Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives.
“The Committee on House Administration and the Committee on the Judiciary are concerned that the NCSBE’s decision was politically motivated and may have been done to influence the 2024 presidential election by limiting the candidates for which voters may cast their ballots,” wrote Jordan and Rep. Bryan Steil, R-Wis.
In a meeting last Tuesday after the investigation was opened, the Constitution Party was approved. The other two parties were delayed without a vote.
Randall Terry will represent the Constitution Party in the race for president. The party is conservative in nature. Each of the other two parties are considered liberal.
The Democrats on the board have faced weeks of accusations of political bias. Those same board members expressed concern with the legitimacy of signatures both parties turned in, but especially the Justice for All Party.
“Members opposed to the party’s recognition cited evidence of fraud in the signature gathering process, as well as the refusal of independent signature gatherers to comply with a subpoena for information from the Board,” said a statement from the board.
Eggers pushed back on this.
“Why are we sitting here today trying to prohibit ballot access for legitimate candidates who are seeking office,” Eggers said. “The bottom line becomes that these parties have the necessary signatures and must be approved.”
It is unclear how or if the federal lawmakers investigating the board will respond to this latest development. No other meetings are scheduled to address the parties.
The Libertarian Party of North Carolina released a statement supporting the petitions from the all three underdog parties, calling out the North Carolina Democratic Party for sending multiple letters requesting that the parties not be certified.
“Amateur statistics isn’t a good enough reason to keep people off the ballot, but then again, the @NCSBE has a majority filled with people who just do what they’re told when their team is in charge,” the Libertarian Party said on social media in response to the denial of the Justice for All party.
House Speaker Tim Moore, R-Cleveland, released a statement saying, “This blatant attempt by Democrats on the NCSBE to bend the rules to insulate their own party’s nominee perfectly illustrates the need for a more balanced Board of Elections.”
