The North Carolina State Board of Elections voted on Tuesday to allow Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to appear on the state ballot under the We The People Party line; however, it voted against doing the same for Dr. Cornel West with the Justice for All Party.
According to WRAL News, the North Carolina State Board of Elections met again to resolve earlier business related to whether it would allow the Kennedy and West campaigns to appear on the state ballot. The Board initially blocked the petitions of both Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Dr. Cornel West, as well as Constitution Party nominee Randall Terry, all for different reasons. However, it changed its position on placing Terry on the ballot last week after the campaign addressed earlier technical issues stemming from an outdated address used on petitioning paperwork.
Regarding Kennedy’s candidacy under the We The People Party, the Board voted four to one to approve the party’s petition to appear on the ballot. Initially, the Board denied the organization—and thus Kennedy—a spot after questioning whether the Kennedy campaign was using a party affiliation as a workaround to current ballot access laws for independent candidates. Board chair Alex Hirsch stated that the Board ultimately lacked the legal authority to deny Kennedy a spot on the ballot; however, he has invited future legal challenges to Kennedy’s candidacy if such proof existed.
In contrast, the Board did deny Cornel West’s bid for ballot access under his newly formed Justice for All Party, which was done with a much closer three to two vote. While the Justice for All Party reportedly turned in enough signatures to meet approval, election officials received a number of complaints from people who signed its petitions, leading to questions of whether volunteers mislead signatories about the party’s purpose. The Board issued subpoenas to people involved in gathering those signatures, but they refused to comply.
“The Board issued subpoenas to people involved in gathering those signatures, but they refused to comply.”
Virginia also accused Cornel West petitioners of misleading signatories: https://independentpoliticalreport.com/2024/06/virginia-petitioners-reportedly-collecting-signatures-for-cornel-west-campaign-under-false-pretenses/
Are these the same petitioners by any chance? And was it ever established whether they were even working for Cornel West’s campaign in the first place?