According to a judge’s ruling in Raleigh on Monday, one third-party candidate will remain an option for president on North Carolina ballots this November.
READ MORE: NC Dems’ BOE lawsuit could prompt ‘serious conversation’ from General Assembly
ALSO: State elections board sued over third-party ballot access, amid House committee interrogation
The Democratic Party sued the State Board of Elections after board members voted 4-1 to allow Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ballot access under the We the People party. Many have claimed partisan politics played a role, believing RFK will dilute votes from the Democratic nominee.
The party asserted in its lawsuit that RFK skirted North Carolina election laws by running under a party affiliation rather than an independent candidate in order to receive a lower threshold of signatures to gain ballot access. Unaffiliated candidates had to receive more than 80,000 signatures by March 5 to qualify for the ballot, whereas parties only had to get just more than 13,000 by June 1.
We the People received double the amount of signatures than mandated, though the state board of elections delayed its vote by three weeks to ensure the party’s petitioners were valid. Board member Siobhan Millen was the only person to dissent, noting Kennedy has used inconsistent methods to gain entry onto ballots countrywide.
He is running as an independent in some states but listed as a part of six different parties in other various states, which Millen said is against state statute. Chairman Alan Hirsch added at the July 16 state board meeting — when the board passed the We the People party but denied Justice for All ballot access, a party also suing the board — that the political party was a “subterfuge.” Yet, Hirsch passed it anyway and said a court would ultimately have to decide whether North Carolina allows the party on the ballot.
He was right.
The Democratic Party submitted an emergency injunction for the courts to stop Kennedy from being represented in the election. His party’s attorney, Oliver Hall, argued Monday that We the People followed all state laws fairly. The state board attorneys agreed statute doesn’t prevent party formation to support candidacies.
Superior Court Judge Keith Gregory, a Democrat, sided with both and ruled against the state’s blue party. Gregory said We the People should receive ballot access.
“It would be unconscionable for this court to attempt to tell a candidate who has decided to use one of two methods that the method he used is a subterfuge when in fact — if it is or it isn’t — he still complied with the requirements,” Gregory ruled.
Democrats can appeal his decision though time is not on their side; absentee ballots have to be printed and ready to go to voters by Sept. 6.
According to a Bloomberg North Carolina tracking poll, assessing swing states, Kennedy has roughly 5% of the vote, with Trump securing 45% against Harris’ 44%.
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