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Voting Rights
Two court decisions last week rejected efforts to keep third-party presidential candidates off of North Carolina ballots in November. U.S. District Judge Terrence W. Boyle ruled that the NC State Board of Elections had infringed NC voters’ constitutional rights by electing to keep Cornel West’s Justice for All party off the ballot, while Wake County Superior Court Judge Keith Gregory denied the NC Democratic Party’s challenge to the inclusion of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s We the People party on the ballot. After some initial delays, the Board had chosen to certify RFK Jr.'s party but not Cornel West’s party; the state Democratic party protested that the We the People party was formed solely to circumvent ballot signature rules for independent candidates, and that it should therefore not be included on the ballot. RFK Jr. is expected to attract prospective voters from both major-party candidates, while Cornel West is positioned as a left-wing candidate likely to draw away potential Harris voters.
On Tuesday the NC State Board of Elections approved 12 new ID cards as acceptable voter identification. The newly approved IDs include employee cards from the City of Gastonia, North Carolina Department of Administration, and Guilford County Schools and student IDs from Duke and Campbell. Because of an objection from a Republican member of the Board, the electronic ID used by some UNC-Chapel Hill students was not approved (though the physical UNC-CH ID card has already been approved), and the Board plans to meet later this month to discuss whether to approve it.
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