Green Party sues NC elections board for keeping its candidates off the ballot
Following the denial of its certification as a political party, the North Carolina Green Party is suing the State Board of Elections, seeking a reversal of the board’s decision.
The party hopes the case will be heard and decided in time for Green Party candidates to appear on the November 2022 ballot.
The lawsuit, filed Thursday in federal District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, alleges that by denying the party’s certification, the board violated its First Amendment and due process rights.
“NCSBE’s failure to certify NCGP as a new political party, despite NCGP’s compliance with all applicable requirements under state law, without providing NCGP with notice or an opportunity to defend the validity of the signatures on its petitions or the integrity of its petitioning process, violates Plaintiffs’ right to due process of law,” the lawsuit reads.
State board members voted 3-2 along party lines last month to deny the party’s certification, citing concerns of potential fraud in the petition-gathering process. All Democrats voted against certification, leading Green Party members to claim that the decision was politically motivated.
On Friday, the Green Party’s presumptive candidate for U.S. Senate, Matthew Hoh, held a press conference outside the state board’s office.
“The process of us not being certified is unconstitutional,” he said. “It takes away our ability to run candidates. More importantly, it takes away the ability of voters have candidates on the ballot that they want. This is why we say the two-party system is exclusionary, undemocratic, and ultimately corrupt.”
The state board met on Thursday and gave an update on its investigation into the Green Party’s petition campaign. Executive Director Karen Brinson Bell said that the state board learned that several county boards had not properly checked signatures and have now been directed to do so by July 29, which could alter the total signature count. This deadline would allow the board to determine whether the party has enough valid signatures to be certified before the state board prints ballots, Bell said.
The board’s Republican members, Stacy “Four” Eggers IV and Tommy Tucker, pointed out that even if the party was certified by the end of the month, the July 1 deadline for filing its candidates has already passed.
The state board’s spokesperson, Pat Gannon, confirmed that the only way the Green Party could appear on the ballot this November would be by a court order or by action from the General Assembly.
Board Chair Damon Circosta said that he would be in favor of legislative changes regarding the petition process.
“If I were a member of the General Assembly, I would be certainly taking a look at this whole statutory setup from how we collect signatures, to the timelines, to the deadlines, to paying individuals per signature — there’s a lot of work that the statutes could be improved upon,” he said.
Green Party leaders said they were not informed by the state board that their party would be discussed during the meeting.
“I’m disappointed that yesterday, the State Board of Elections — as we were filing our suit — chose to have a discussion about us — a planned discussion with a presentation — without informing us or our legal counsel, or even putting it on the agenda,” he said. “This speaks to me of continued bad faith by the state board of elections in this process.”
Fraud allegations
In the weeks leading up to the state board’s vote on certifying signatures, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee contacted Green Party petition signers, urging them to revoke their signatures.
“If the Green Party is on the ballot it will give Republicans a huge advantage that will help them win in North Carolina in 2022 and 2024,” texts from the DSCC to signatories said.
Plaintiffs in the party’s lawsuit include several petition signers who were contacted by the DSCC.
Meanwhile, The Elias Group, a powerful Democratic-aligned law firm, submitted complaints to the state and county boards of elections, alleging fraud in the Green Party’s petition campaign. Michael Vincent Abucewicz, who has worked for North Carolina Democrats, along with his lawyer, Jacquelyn Lopez, a partner at The Elias Group, submitted at least three letters to the state board and four complaints to county boards.
“The Board should refrain from determining the sufficiency of the Green Party’s submission until it is able to assure itself and the public that the Green Party’s petitions contain valid signatures that were obtained in compliance with the law,” Abucewicz wrote in a June 28 letter to the State Board of Elections.
Gannon said the board began investigating the party’s petition campaign in May, before The Elias Group submitted its complaints. The investigation is ongoing and any criminal findings will be referred to prosecutors, Gannon said.
At the board’s meeting on Thursday, members reiterated that their decision against certification was not made for political reasons.
“There is nothing political about this that’s being performed by state board staff,” Brinson Bell said. “This is us administering elections as prescribed by our law.”
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This story was originally published July 14, 2022 at 12:59 PM.