North Carolina House Speaker Tim Moore and two Republican colleagues are supporting the Justice for All Party’s pursuit of ballot access for the November election. A hearing is scheduled Tuesday in Elizabeth City on JFA’s request for an emergency injunction to guarantee a spot on the election ballot.
Moore, R-Cleveland, filed court documents Friday along with Rep. Destin Hall, R-Caldwell, and Rep. Grey Mills, R-Iredell. Hall chairs the House Rules Committee. He has declared his candidacy to succeed Moore as House speaker in 2025. Mills chairs the House Election Law and Campaign Finance Reform Committee.
“The North Carolina House of Representatives has a strong interest in this case,” lawyers for the GOP legislators wrote in a memorandum tied to a friend-of-the-court brief. “It is an important state interest to ensure that citizens of North Carolina can fully exercise their First and Fourteenth Amendment rights to cast their votes effectively, to speak and associate for political purposes, and to grow and develop their political party in accordance with democratic tradition.”
“These interests are implicated in this case, as the dispute concerns the ability of a new political party to access the ballot box, and correlatively, the right of citizens to vote for their preferred candidates,” the court filing continued.
“Because several North Carolina statutes are implicated in this case, including N.C. GEN. STAT . §§ 163-96 and 163-98, which govern procedures for qualifying new political parties and placing candidates on the ballot, the Legislators also have an interest in the proper interpretation of these statutes insofar as they are relevant to the analysis of Plaintiffs’ constitutional claim.” GOP legislators’ lawyers wrote.
Lawmakers accused the State Board of Elections of applying the state law for new political parties “discriminatorily.”
“’No right is more precious in a free country than that of having a voice in the election of those who make the laws under which, as good citizens, we must live. Other rights, even the most basic, are illusory if the right to vote is undermined,’” lawmakers’ lawyers wrote, citing a 1968 US Supreme Court precedent, Williams v. Rhodes. “This right is being undermined today for voters who wish to support the Justice For All Party of North Carolina in the upcoming November 2024 elections.”
“Following an organized campaign by out-of-state political operatives, the North Carolina Democratic Party, and a partisan front group specifically formed to ‘coordinate attacks on third-party candidates,’ the North Carolina State Board of Elections refused to certify the Justice For All Party of North Carolina as a new political party,” GOP lawmakers argued. “In doing so, Defendants excluded the Justice For All Party’s candidates, including presidential nominee Dr. Cornel West, from North Carolina’s 2024 general election ballot. And they deprived plaintiffs of their right to cast ballots for him this November.”
Friday marked the deadline for the State Board of Elections to submit its arguments in the case. “State law requires parties seeking certification to file with the State Board petitions signed by registered and qualified voters in this State equal in number to one-quarter of one percent (0.25%) of the total number of voters who voted in the most recent general election for Governor,” state government lawyers wrote. “After undertaking an investigation, the State Board was unable to conclude that JFA had established the party’s compliance with this state-law requirement. For that reason, the State Board denied certification. This decision was lawful — and indeed was the only one permissible under state law, given JFA’s failure to substantiate the requisite number of signatures.”
The Justice for All Party will submit its final written arguments Monday before a hearing the following day in Elizabeth City.
“Given the exigent nature of the issues presented and the seriousness of the constitutional harms alleged,” US District Judge Terrence Boyle scheduled the hearing in an order filed Wednesday.
Three voters tied to JFA filed suit Monday against the State Board of Elections. The board voted 3-2 this month to reject JFA’s bid to win recognition as a state political party. The group is tied to West, a left-of-center academic and activist.
Along with the lawsuit, the party is seeking an injunction against the elections board. It asks the court to force the elections board to certify JFA as a political party. JFA also seeks a waiver of July 1 deadlines tied to new political parties. The party is also asking the court to order elections officials “to take the action necessary to include JFA’s nominated candidate on North Carolina’s November 2024 general election ballot.”
The party is seeking a decision by Aug. 19 to comply with ballot deadlines for the November election.
JFA’s lawsuit targets the North Carolina State Board of Elections and director Karen Brinson Bell.
“The Justice for All Party of North Carolina (‘JFA’) timely complied with all requirements under state law to qualify as a new political party and place its candidates on North Carolina’s November 5, 2024 general election ballot,” according to the complaint filed in US District Court in the Eastern District. “Nevertheless, by a divided 3-2 vote, Defendant North Carolina State Board of Elections (‘NCSBE’) declined to certify JFA as a new political party.”
“NCSBE cited no legal authority for its action,” the complaint alleges. “NCSBE claimed to be investigating allegations of ‘fraud’ with respect to JFA’s petitions, but NCSBE conceded that JFA submitted more than enough valid signatures than required under state law.”
The 3-2 vote split the elections board along party lines. The board’s three Democrats rejected JFA as a political party with ballot access in November. The two Republicans supported JFA’s request for ballot access.
The board rejected Justice for All’s bid during the same July 16 meeting when it voted, 4-1, to approve ballot access for the We the People Party linked to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The state elections board also rejected JFA’s ballot access requests on June 28 and July 9.
Plaintiffs Johnny Thomas Ortiz II, Jimmie Gregory Rogers Jr., and Weldon Murphy are Fayetteville residents. They are “voters and petition signers who supported JFA’s effort to become a ballot-qualified party in 2024,” the complaint explained. “Plaintiffs want to vote for JFA’s nominee in the November 2024 general election. The NCSBE’s failure to certify JFA as a new party makes it impossible for them to do so.”
“Plaintiffs therefore bring this action against the NCSBE for the violation of their rights to cast their votes effectively, to speak and associate for political purposes, to grow and develop their political party, to petition, and of their right to due process, as guaranteed by the First and Fourteenth Amendments,” JFA’s lawyers wrote. “Plaintiffs respectfully request that the Court declare the NCSBE’s failure to certify JFA as a political party unconstitutional and enter an order directing the NCSBE to certify JFA and place its nominee on North Carolina’s 2024 general election ballot.”
The lawsuit explained the process the party used to secure ballot access. “Under N.C. GEN. STAT. § 163-96(a)(2), JFA was required to submit petitions with 13,865 valid signatures. According to NCSBE, JFA timely submitted petitions containing a total of 30,719 signatures to county boards of elections, and the county boards of elections found that 17,362 of those signatures were checked and determined to be valid.”
JFA’s complaint highlighted efforts from the Democratic Party and Clear Choice Action, a group affiliated with Democratic operative Marc Elias, to keep the new party off the ballot.
“Clear Choice Action was created by Democrats to limit the voices of North Carolina voters in order to protect and advance their own political agenda,” the complaint alleged, quoting a March 2024 Washington Post article: “Allies of President Biden have formed a super PAC called Clear Choice, aimed at stopping any third-party or independent candidates from gaining traction before the November Election.”
“A review of the documents posted on the NCSBE’s website regarding this matter indicates that the basis of the NCSBE’s request for information from JFA on June 21, 2024 was based upon the allegations contained in the correspondences submitted by Democratic operatives,” JFA’s lawyers wrote.
“During the course of JFA’s petition drives, tens of thousands of voters signed JFA’s petitions, and JFA petition circulators spoke with tens of thousands more North Carolinians in addition to the petition signers. On information and belief, not one of those citizens filed a complaint with NCSBE or any county board of elections regarding JFA’s petitioning efforts. On information and belief, only Clear Choice Action, represented by Elias Law Group, has filed such a complaint,” the lawsuit continued.
JFA urges the federal court to declare that the state elections board’s decision to reject the party’s ballot access “is an unreasonable interpretation that is not justified by any legitimate or compelling state interest that severely burdens Plaintiffs’ rights in violation the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution.”
The party seeks a court order by Aug. 19 that “directs NCSBE to certify JFA as a new party entitled to place its candidates on North Carolina’s November 5, 2024 general election ballot.” The order would set aside a July 1 state deadline for certification of new political parties.
Justice for All’s legal team features lawyers who have represented Republican legislative leaders in election-related legal battles.
Comments