Appeals court decision keeps Green Party candidates on NC ballots

A federal court on Thursday denied a motion by Democrats that sought to keep Green Party candidates off North Carolina ballots in November.

Posted 9:39 p.m. Aug 11, 2022 — Updated 10:02 p.m. Aug 11, 2022

A federal court on Thursday denied a motion by Democrats that sought to keep Green Party candidates off North Carolina ballots in November.

The decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit upholds an order issued last week by U.S. District Judge James Dever III that requires state elections officials to place the Green Party’s U.S. Senate candidate, Matthew Hoh, and Wake County state Senate candidate Michael Trudeau on ballots alongside other parties' candidates.

The North Carolina Democratic Party and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee had sought to prevent the Green Party candidates from landing on the ballot.

“In accordance with today’s Fourth Circuit decision, Green Party candidates will be on ballots when they are printed,” Pat Gannon, a spokesman for the North Carolina State Board of Elections said in a statement Thursday. “The production and printing of ballots is a weeks-long process, which starts tomorrow with coding the contents of the ballots for each ballot style across all counties.”

Initial distribution of absentee ballots to voters is expected on Sept. 9, Gannon said.

Hoh’s placement on the ballot could complicate the election for Democratic former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Cheri Beasley, who is competing for the seat against Republican U.S. Rep. Ted Budd and Libertarian Shannon Bray. A far-left candidate could take liberal votes from the more moderate Beasley in what is expected to be a tight race.

"We are pleased that Judge Dever and the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the Democrats' shameful attempt to suppress voter choice in the November election," Oliver Hall, a lawyer representing the Green Party, said in an emailed statement. "This is a win for all North Carolina voters and a win for democracy."

Lawyers for the Democratic groups didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

The state elections board, which consists of three Democrats and two Republicans, voted unanimously last week to recognize the Green Party as a political party in the state, citing a review from county elections boards showing that the group seeking recognition collected a sufficient number of valid signatures.

But a fraud investigation, underway since at least June, continues into a number of invalid ballot-access signatures collected for the party. The investigation initially caused the board’s Democratic majority to vote to keep the Green Party's candidates off the ballot. The Green Party, which has denied wrongdoing, sued in response seeking to get its candidates on the ballot.

The state Democratic Party joined the federal case in an effort to deny ballot access to the Green Party’s candidates due in part to the fraud investigation.

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