NC elections board allows Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on 2024 ballot, denies Cornel West
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will appear on North Carolina’s 2024 ballot as a presidential candidate, the State Board of Elections decided on Tuesday. However, the board voted to deny ballot access to left-wing candidate Cornel West.
In a 4-1 vote, the board voted to recognized Kennedy’s “We The People” party. As for West’s “Justice For All” party, the board voted 3-2 to deny certification, with the board’s Democratic majority carrying the vote.
Despite initially voting against Kennedy last month, two Democrats joined the board’s Republican minority to approve We The People. Board Chair Alan Hirsch said he was reluctantly voting in favor of the party, though he believed there had been “subterfuge.”
However, West’s campaign raised too many questions about where signatures came from and whether signers were adequately informed about the purpose of his new party, the board’s Democrats said. They also said an investigation into potentially fraudulent signatures is ongoing.
The board’s Republicans disagreed with that decision — with member Stacy “Four” Eggers noting that the party had passed the threshold of signatures required to form a new party.
“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,” he said.
The board has faced a wave of criticism from Republicans and independents since it initially voted to deny ballot access to Kennedy and West last month. State lawmakers, advocacy groups and even congressional leaders accused the board’s Democrats of trying to boost President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign by eliminating third-party challengers.
“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,” NC GOP Chair Jason Simmons said in a statement on Tuesday.
When board members initially voted against certification last month, they expressed concerns about petition-gatherers misleading people into signing and about voters who asked for their signatures to be removed. They also stressed that their decision was not final and they would vote again after further investigation.
A Democratic-affiliated group contacted petition signers to question them about their signatures and told the elections board it had found problems with the petition sheets. The group, called Clear Choice Action, pointed to an NBC News report that a Republican activist collecting signatures for West’s group at a Trump rally told people that the campaign “helps take away votes from Joe Biden.
Clear Choice criticized the board for certifying Kennedy’s party on Tuesday.
“These are two sham parties driven by Republican operatives that result from neither candidate being able to show the level of support required by North Carolina law to get on the ballot as an independent candidate.” Pete Kavanaugh, Clear Choice’s founder, said in a statement.
Kennedy certified despite reservations
While the board’s Democrats initially voted against the certification of Kennedy’s party last month, all but one reversed course on Tuesday.
“I am going to reluctantly vote to recognize We The People even though I believe there has been subterfuge,” Hirsch said. “... I think that it is such a close call, that ultimately a court would have to decide it. And therefore, I’m not sure if the board should be the one that is standing in the way.”
Siobhan Millen, a Democrat, voted against recognizing the party, saying that Kennedy was circumventing state law by trying to create a new political party for the sole purpose of achieving ballot access for his presidential campaign.
“A political party is intended to be more than a transitory entity designed to be a vehicle for a single candidate,” she said.
State law provides for a different process for unaffiliated candidates to appear on the ballot and requires a much higher signature threshold than the process for recognizing new parties.
Millen also noted that Kennedy and West had achieved ballot access in other states under different third parties.
West denied over signature concerns
Board members last month noted concerns about the fact that Justice For All allowed outside groups to gather signatures for the party.
One of those groups, called People Over Parties, drew particular attention from the board. Hirsch said the leader of that group refused to comply with a subpoena.
Staff for the board attempted to contact a randomized list of 250 Justice For All petition signers. They were only able to reach 49.
Eighteen of those signers said they did not actually sign the petition and three said they didn’t remember if they signed it. Several more signers said in interviews with board staff that they were not told the purpose and intent of the party.
“Given that 50% and more of these signatures (in the sample) are highly questionable — if that were applied to the total, it would bring them well below the requirement of signatures,” Hirsch said.
Republicans on the board said these statements could not be used to make broader generalizations about the party’s petition process.
“Not in the history of my knowledge of this board have we ever taken a random sample, then extrapolated that polling to try and undo a decision that we’ve had before us,” Eggers said.
This story was originally published July 16, 2024 at 11:09 AM with the headline "NC elections board allows Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on 2024 ballot, denies Cornel West."
