North Carolina election board faces GOP-led federal investigation over parties’ ballot access

(The Center Square) – Actions of the state Board of Elections in North Carolina are being investigated by the Committee on the Judiciary of the U.S. House of Representatives, led by Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio. 

This is after the board denied ballot access to three political parties, even though each exceeded the number of signatures required to qualify.

In a letter from the Judiciary Committee and the House Administration Committee, which is also investigating the decision, the lawmakers stated they are seeking more “documents and information” about the decision.

“The Committee on House Administration and the Committee on the Judiciary are concerned that the NCSBE’s decision was politically motivated and may have been done to influence the 2024 presidential election by limiting the candidates for which voters may cast their ballots,” wrote Jordan and Rep. Bryan Steil, R-Wisconsin.

Steil is chairman of the House Administration Committee.

The three parties support Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Cornel West, and Randall Terry for the 2024 presidential race.

The parties each submitted more than the 13,865 votes required to appear on the ballot, according to records from the state’s Board of Elections.

While they were first denied access to the ballot last week, the committee said before the federal investigation was even open that they would reconsider the issue again in July.

The letter from the federal committees says the decision was made based on the “political motivations” of the members of the board, pointing out that the three Democrats on the board all voted against the petition requests. 

“For example,” the letter says. “In its denial of one petition, the Democrat members voted to block the petition simply because the address of the party’s chairman was not up to date on the petition sheets.”

Both Republicans on the board voted in favor of approving the petition.

The federal committees were not the first to react negatively to the board’s decision, which faced widespread backlash.

The Libertarian Party of North Carolina released a statement supporting the petitions from the other three underdog parties, calling the decision “election interference.”

“The Libertarian Party of North Carolina (@LPNC) is deeply disappointed, though hardly surprised, with the North Carolina State Board of Elections (@NCSBE) decision yesterday to limit the choices of the people of North Carolina in keeping the We the People Party, the Constitution Party, and the Justice for All Party off the ballot in North Carolina,” it posted on X. “We resoundingly reject this partisan and anti-American decision that mocks the concept of democracy and destroys any pretense of representative government.”

If the decision is not reversed soon, the candidates will miss the deadline to appear on the ballot in November.

Because of this, the federal committees requested the board respond to their request by Monday so they can “conduct oversight” and avoid any undue “influence” or “sway” the board is attempting to have over the election in North Carolina.