Despite GOP objections, two more Republicans will join Trump on NC’s primary ballot
Former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld and former U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh will appear on North Carolina’s Republican presidential primary ballot, despite efforts by state GOP leaders to put only President Donald Trump on the ballot.
The bipartisan State Board of Elections voted unanimously Friday to add Weld and Walsh, following requests from their campaigns. But the board didn’t act on requests from more obscure candidates seeking the Republican, Democratic and Green parties’ presidential nomination.
State political parties are responsible for submitting a list of all candidates “whose candidacy is generally advocated and recognized in the news media throughout the United States or in North Carolina.” But the law also allows the elections board to add more candidates who fit that description.
Bob Orr, a former N.C. Supreme Court justice who’s been one of Trump’s most prominent Republican critics in the state, spoke on behalf of both Weld and Walsh. “I would respectfully ask on behalf of a large number of Republican voters that they be given a choice in the presidential primary,” Orr told the elections board.
But N.C. Republican Party executive director Jonathan Sink argued that Weld doesn’t meet the legal requirements to appear on the primary ballot because he’s not well-known. “If you asked 100 people on the street who this individual was, they would not be able to tell you he’s a candidate for president,” Sink said.
In his comments to the elections board, Sink did not mention Walsh or the other Republicans seeking ballot access, Lawrence Horne and Matthew Matern.
No one at Friday’s meeting spoke on behalf of Horne, Matern, Democratic presidential candidate Henry Hewes or Green Party presidential candidate Dario Hunter. All had submitted written requests to be added to the ballot and weren’t on the lists submitted by their parties, but the board took no action Friday.
A news release from Walsh’s presidential campaign said the former congressman has faced similar hurdles from state GOP organizations in other states. “Several state Republican parties throughout the country have similarly attempted to disenfranchise voters to block equitable ballot access in the 2020 presidential primary,” the campaign said in the release. “In every state in which a state elections board or Secretary of State has the final say, these schemes have failed.”
North Carolina’s elections board consists of three Democrats and two Republicans, all of whom backed the decision to add Weld and Walsh.
The Republican and Green parties were the only ones in North Carolina that submitted just a single candidate for their primary ballots. The state Democratic Party submitted 15 names, the Libertarian Party submitted 16, and the Constitution Party submitted two.
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This story was originally published December 20, 2019 at 1:15 PM.
