RALEIGH, N.C. (CN) — The North Carolina Board of Elections Tuesday deferred recognition of Robert Kennedy Jr.’s and Cornel West’s political parties, which means they’re not yet on the ballot in the state as presidential candidates for the November general election.
The body did, however, certify the Constitution Party, whose presidential nominee is anti-abortion activist Randall Terry. The party submitted more than 14,000 signatures in its petition for certification. It has until July 23 to propose additional candidates for the upcoming election.
The Board decided not to vote on approving two other parties, We the People and Justice for All, which were also denied official status last month. We the People is the party founded by Robert Kennedy Jr., while Justice for All was formed by Cornel West.
In North Carolina, it is easier for political parties to be recognized than it is for an individual politician to place their name on the ballot, but the We the People and Justice for All parties would need to be officially recognized for either Kennedy or West to be on the ballot.
The state Board of Elections has a Democratic majority, but two of the five board members are Republicans. The News & Observer reported in June that members of the Board have received pressuring letters from a Democratic super PAC, which insists that the third-party presidential campaigns are aimed at hindering President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign.
The Board of Elections has faced scrutiny from Republican lawmakers, who claim members are allowing political partisanship to interfere with their responsibilities, and that they are not approving qualifying political parties that could dilute Democrat voters. North Carolina Republican representatives in Congress have accused the Board of attempting to limit the presidential election and yielding to the demands of Democrats.
Republican Speaker of the state House Tim Moore called the Board’s deferral of approval on Kennedy and West’s political parties election interference.
“Democratic partisans on the State Board of Elections have ignored clear state law and refused to certify third parties that pose a threat to Joe Biden in November,” Moore said in a statement.
Both of the Republicans on the Board, Stacy Eggers IV and Kevin Lewis, voiced opposition to authorizing the Constitution Party, which would divide Republican votes, but ultimately voted in favor of it. Lewis, who said he was in support of approving both Kennedy and West’s parties, criticized the Board for dragging their feet in refusing to greenlight all three.
Chairman Alan Hirsch said that he didn’t want to stand in the Constitution Party’s way over technical errors. Their Board initially denied the party’s certification in June, because the party chair, Albert “Al” Pisano, relocated during the petitioning process and failed to update his address.
Both Kennedy and West’s parties were denied in June because of concerns that signature gatherers were misleading voters while asking for signatures. Staff for the Board of Elections contacted voters who signed petitions for both parties and then later signed affidavits to have their signatures removed. These voters were a very small minority of those who signed; West’s Justice for All party has over 17,000 validated signatures, and Kennedy’s We the People Party has more than 18,000, but there are fewer than 100 affidavits.
Only nine voters who revoked their signature for Kennedy’s party were able to be reached, and none could explain the purpose of the political party, said Lindsey Wakely, acting general counsel for the State Board of Elections, during the meeting Tuesday. For West’s party, staff made contact with 22 voters, 12 of whom said they did not sign or did not remember signing the petitions.
All of the organizations involved in obtaining signatures were subpoenaed by the Board of Elections, which is still waiting on responses. Staff members are continuing to verify if the unconfirmed parties communicated the “purpose and intent” of creating new political parties to petition signers, which they are legally required to do.
Board member Siobhan O’Duffy Millen said that the current numbers may be indicative that voters did not know what they were signing.
“If I don’t vote right at the ballot box, someone needs to call me and ask me if I know what I’m doing?” Eggers challenged. “I know we have received a number of documents. I still think we generally do not second guess voters on their decisions and should not do so in this case.”
After the Board first rejected the parties’ petitions in June, Republicans in Congress asked it to turn over documents and communications related to the petitions and the board’s decisions regarding them. The state House Oversight and Reform Committee also opened an inquiry, and requested that both Hirsch and Executive Director Karen Brinson Bell appear as witnesses to testify about the Board’s petition denials in a meeting that has been rescheduled for July 23.
Both the state Republican Party and the state Libertarian Party have sent letters to the board urging them to approve all three parties, as they have met the minimum number of signatures required by state law.
“Our democracy is only as stable to the degree of trust that our population has in the elected officials who would govern them,” wrote Ryan Brown, the state chair of the Libertarian Party of North Carolina, who argued the Board shouldn’t attempt to benefit existing political parties by excluding new ones.
In 2022, the Board refused the Green Party official status for midterms elections, citing irregularities in the signed petitions. The Green Party sued, won, and the Democratic party was forced to pay for their legal bills.
The Constitution Party now joins the Republican, Democratic, Green, No Labels and Libertarian parties as political parties for which North Carolina voters can register. Until the We the People and Justice for All parties are approved, the status of both Kennedy and West as presidential candidates on the November ballot is in limbo.
Hirsch says that there is still time for the parties to be approved and candidates to be placed on the ballot, once the Board weighs through all their materials.
“We’re going to take the evidence where it leads us,” said Hirsch. “But we’re going to do it promptly.”