“I wish there were more choices” is a common refrain among disinterested voters, and North Carolina voters are sure to find more options on their ballots in this fall's general election.
Sunday, June 1, was the deadline for three aspiring political parties to submit the signatures needed to get on the November ballot: the People's Party, the North Carolina Justice Party, and the North Carolina Constitution Party. According to the petition pages on the North Carolina State Board of Elections (NCSBE) website, all three parties have exceeded the required 13,865 valid signatures from North Carolina voters.
The groups applied for ballot access with the state board earlier this year, and state officials are still formally reviewing the petitions, although they have exceeded the threshold of verified signatures posted online, said NCSBE spokesperson Pat Gannon.
“State committee staff continue to review petitions submitted by the North Carolina Constitution Party, the North Carolina Justice for All Party and We the People,” Gannon told the Carolina Journal. “The state committee is scheduled to meet in mid-June to consider whether to recognize these parties as official political parties in North Carolina.”
But if the recent history of third-party voting rights is any guide, the path to getting them on the ballot isn't necessarily sure. The state committee initially rejected petitions from the North Carolina Green Party and No Label Party. In a scandal that engulfed the North Carolina Democratic Party, the Green Party ultimately sued and won, arguing that Democrats were using partisan bias to thwart voting rights competition.
“The state committee placed roadblocks on both the Green and No Label petitions, even though the latter submitted more than enough signatures,” Dr. Andy Jackson, director of the Civitas Center for Public Integrity at the John Locke Foundation, told the Carolina Journal. “Will any of the parties filing petitions this year face similar treatment?”
The issue of three additional parties is especially important given their potential impact in a presidential election year, when third-party candidates on either side of the two major parties have become a source of debate and anxiety for politicians and pollsters ahead of November.
According to Jackson, the political influence of the three different parties could not be more different.
“The Constitution Party is distinctly conservative and is likely to attract voters who would otherwise vote Republican,” Jackson emphasized. “The Justice for All Party is a vehicle for socialist activist Cornel West's presidential campaign and is likely to draw some votes away from President Biden. Similarly, We the People Party is a vehicle for Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s presidential campaign.”
The biggest question mark for poll watchers is RFK Jr.'s campaign. The scion of a powerful political family has been a darling of the environmental left for decades, as he has spearheaded lawsuits against polluters and advocated for tough policies to fight climate change, but his recent political rise has begun with an unabashed anti-vaccination stance that has struck a populist chord that resonates among Trump supporters. Polls show RFK Jr. enjoying a small but significant following of 7 to 10 percent.
What does that mean at the polling station? There are so many moving parts that there may not be much movement, Jackson suggests.
“The conventional wisdom has been that Kennedy's presence on the ballot would hurt Biden, but recent polls show him receiving roughly equal support from Trump and Biden supporters,” Jackson said. “The combined effect of all three parties on the November ballot appears to be politically negative.”