RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — The North Carolina State Board of Elections on Tuesday voted to formally recognize the We The People Party, paving the way for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to be on the ballot for November’s presidential election.
The NCSBE also voted to deny a similar request to recognize of Justice For All Party — meaning Cornel West is not on the ballot in this state.
The vote on Kennedy’s party was 4-1 in favor of recognition. The vote on West’s party was the 3-2 against recognition, with the board’s Democratic majority voting together.
Board Chair Alan Hirsch said he was “reluctantly” voting in favor of recognizing Kennedy’s party, adding he believes they engaged in “subterfuge.”
Democratic member Siobhan Millen noted the state requires an independent candidate seeking to get on the ballot to obtain significantly more signatures than a new political party seeking recognition. She was the sole vote against recognizing the We the People Party.
“This so-called party serves as nothing but a special purpose vehicle for Mr. Kennedy’s independent candidacy,” she said. “What is at play here is that North Carolina voters’ desire for political options is being cynically exploited to circumvent North Carolina law in order to put individual candidates on the ballot.”
Hirsch noted there’s an ongoing fraud investigation into the process used to gather signatures for the Justice For All Party.
The board’s two Republican members pushed back, saying the group had exceeded the threshold necessary to gain recognition.
“We are bound to approve these parties whether we like the candidates running or not, or whether we intend to vote for them or whether we’re concerned they’re gonna take votes away from one of our preferred candidates,” said Stacy Eggers IV.
Staff members shared data on their efforts to contact people who had signed the petitions for the Justice for All Party. They attempted to reach 250 people but were only able to reach 49 of them. Of those, 18 said they did not sign the petition, three did not recall signing, and 28 voters were interviewed.
Eggers noted the party submitted more than 17,000 signatures, which is still significantly above the threshold of 13,865 needed for formal recognition as a party.
Edwin DeJesus, a spokesman for Cornel West’s campaign, told CBS 17 they plan to file a federal lawsuit “as early as this week.”
“The actions today from the Democrat-majority NC State Board of Elections confirms our belief they were explicitly acting out of political expediency for Democrats and Joe Biden,” said NCGOP Chairman Jason Simmons. “By all measures, both parties today should have been approved in June.”
Just this past week, CBS 17 reported the Board of Elections voted to formally recognize the Constitution Party unanimously, but had hesitation towards giving We The People and Justice For All parties the green light due to issues with the legitimacy of petition signatures.
This has been an ongoing battle between third-party candidates and the NCSBE to be recognized and able to run in North Carolina for at least two years, including the Green Party being denied ballot entry and winning a federal case over the matter.
The Fair Election Fund, a non-profit group advised by former Republican U.S. Rep. Doug Collins, has undertaken an ad campaign criticizing the board’s Democratic majority over the handling of this process.
“It is disgraceful that the North Carolina State Board of Elections once again blocked Cornel West and the Justice for All party from the 2024 ballot. This blatant attempt to block Biden’s competition only further silences the voices of North Carolinians,” Collins said in a statement.
