(The Center Square) – Rules for length of time allotted to county boards of election to handle protests and recounts have been tightened by the North Carolina Board of Elections.
The board, a majority 3-2 Republicans, also voted Thursday on party lines to accept documentation that keeps the Green Party recognized in the state. Through Saturday, the party has 4,035 registrations among the state’s more than 7.5 million.
The No Labels (30,281 registrations through Saturday), We The People (2,411), Justice For All (1,057) and Constitution (811) parties each fell off the recognized list because of failure by candidates to receive at least 2.5% of the total vote for governor or president last November.
This means those more than 34,000 voter registrations now go to the unaffiliated bloc, already the state’s largest. In two days when the latest tabulation is released, unaffiliated registrations is expected to hit 38.2%. Democrats are at 30.7% and Republicans 30.4%.
Protest notifications are now within three business days rather than five; recounts are to happen within three business days of demand; and hand-to-eye recounts are to begin within two business days of demand.
Passage was unanimous among Republicans Francis De Luca, Stacy Eggers and Bob Rucho; and Democrats Siobhan Millen and Jeff Carmon. DeLuca is the chairman.
“These rules will help bring finality to elections sooner rather than later,” Eggers said.
“That’s a good point,” Millen said.
Three methods are available for the Green Party to retain status. Its petition requested using the option of its candidate for president being on ballots in 70% of the states. Discussion was lengthy because of variations of names in some states.
Ultimately, the Republicans said they would err on ballot access in a question of “statutory construction,” as Eggers called it, of the law. Clear was Jill Stein appearing in 26 states as the Green Party candidate, and four others for which a party name was an affiliate of the national party. Carmon and Millen rejected others that brought the total at or above 35 where Stein was a candidate in states either by petition or as an independent.
The board also favored unanimously adjusted observer rules. Tabled to a meeting Tuesday in person were agenda items on campaign finance rules, petition rules, and waiver requests.
