North Carolina rejects initial ballot access for RFK Jr., Cornel West in boost for Biden

Third party candidates have clashed with state officials across the country in the battle to secure ballot access. Getty Images

North Carolina’s state Board of Elections voted along party lines Wednesday against listing independent presidential hopefuls Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Cornel West on the ballot — a move that is likely to benefit President Biden, if it holds.

Three Democrats on the panel voted to keep Kennedy and West off-ballot “for now,” while the board’s two Republicans expressed discontent with the process.

Democrats have long fretted that Kennedy and West could siphon would-be Democrat votes away from Biden, especially in battleground states that could decide who wins the presidency.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. initially vied as a Democrat before switching to Independent last October. Getty Images

Board Chairman Alan Hirsch said more time was needed to “look at petition-gathers who have been problematic” before a final decision on ballot eligibility could be made.

Members expressed particular concern about a NBC News report, published earlier this month, that out-of-state operatives with links to a Colorado-based Republican consulting firm had helped gather signatures for West.

Democrats on the board also expressed concern that Kennedy and West allies were inappropriately exploiting election rules by creating new political parties as a vehicle to get them on the ballot, taking advantage of the lower access bar for new parties as opposed to independent candidates.

Election officials verified that the pro-West Justice for All Party and the pro-Kennedy We The People Party had turned in more valid signatures than the 13,865 that were required — but the board’s Democrats were unmoved.

“If this board keeps rubber-stamping thinly veiled so-called parties, national operatives are going to continue to come in and keep manipulating our system,” Democrat-appointed commissioner Siobhan Millen said, per NBC.

“I must say I’m disappointed with how we have handled this issue,” said Republican member Stacy Eggers in disagreement. “Because it just appears to me that this is yielding to political pressure from respective parties and political action groups to keep other candidates and other parties who are not our parties off the ballot.”

To run as an independent candidate for president, would-be contenders must produce a petition signed by 1.5% of registered North Carolina voters who participated in the most recent gubernatorial election. For 2024, that figure is 83,188, according to a spokesperson for the board.

Cornel West is mounting a spirited campaign from President Biden’s left flank. Robert Miller

West decried the move as “hypocritical and antithetical to everything our democracy stands for.”

“The actions of the Democratic members of the Board reflect a disturbing trend of putting partisan gain over democratic values,” West said in a statement. “The people deserve the right to choose, not to have their options limited by a party fearful of competition.”

“Our supporters turned in nearly twice as many signatures as we need so the Democratic Party’s efforts to disenfranchise North Carolina voters won’t succeed,” the Kennedy campaign said in a Thursday statement. “Our party, We The People North Carolina, has broad precedent on its side, will fight this decision, and will win.”

The Donald Trump presidential campaign and the Republican National Committee also lashed out at the board.

The Biden campaign has been on guard over the thirty party challenges it feels could spoil the election. Getty Images

“Throughout this election, we have seen Democrats try to engage in blatant election interference because they know they have a flawed candidate in Crooked Joe Biden,” Trump campaign communications director Steven Cheung said in a statement.

“Those who have engaged in these un-American acts must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and receive the harshest punishment possible so these injustices will never be repeated.”

RNC Chairman Michael Whatley, a former head of the North Carolina GOP, ripped the board and teased, “We are leaving all options on the table to remedy this issue.”

“Today the Democrat-controlled North Carolina Board of Elections has done Joe Biden’s bidding, willfully ignored North Carolina law, and betrayed the public trust of North Carolinians by voting not to qualify Cornel West or Robert Kennedy Jr. for the presidential ballot,” he said.

So far, Kennedy is confirmed to be on the ballot in California, Hawaii, Michigan, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Utah, according to Politico’s tracker. West is confirmed for the ballot in Colorado, Oregon, South Carolina and Utah.

Underscoring the importance of North Carolina, Biden will travel to Raleigh Friday for his first formal campaign event after Thursday night’s debate against Trump.

North Carolina will award 16 Electoral College votes and has voted Republican in 10 of the last 11 presidential elections, with 2008 the lone exception.

Trump is averaging a 5.8-percentage point polling lead in the state against Biden head-to-head, according to RealClearPolitics, and that advantage grows to an even eight points when Kennedy, West and Green Party candidate Jill Stein are added to the mix.