The State Board of Elections voted 4-1 Sunday to recognize the No Labels Party as an official party of North Carolina. It joins four other officially recognized parties that can now run candidates and have registered voters, namely the Democrat, Republican, Green and Libertarian.
North Carolina’s new party is linked to a national No Labels campaign that is supported by a wide range of political leaders, mostly centrists. The list includes former Republican North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory; US Senator Joe Manchin, Democratic West Virginia; and former Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, who was a Democrat but became an independent.
No Labels is preparing to present a bipartisan ticket for president and vice president in case the Democrats and Republicans “elect excessively divisive presidential candidates.” North Carolina, often considered a state with no clear political bias, awards 16 Electoral College votes.
The other states in which it already has official recognition are Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Nevada, Oregon, South Dakota and Utah.
Reaching 10 states is “a historic win for Americans who have said loud and clear that they want more options at the polls. Today the spirit of democracy in America wins,” civil rights activist Benjamin Chavis, a North Carolina native and national co-chairman of No Labels, said in a statement released Monday.
No Labels candidates have yet been designated for the White House. The group leaders have said they will stand by if there is no clear path to victory next year.
North Carolina state law says that to gain recognition, a party must collect signatures from registered voters equal to 0.25% of the voters who participated in the last gubernatorial election, which means just under 13,900 signatures when counted. the 2020 election. State election officials agreed that No Labels submitted more than 14,800 signatures, and also met the requirement of at least 200 signatures in each of the three legislative districts.
FOUNTAIN: Associated Press
