RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Three North Carolina voters are suing the State Election Board, alleging the board violated their constitutional rights when it rejected a petition drive seeking party approval to draw districts for their districts. Cornel West on the presidential election ballot.
The lawsuit filed Monday adds to pressure on the election board’s Democratic majority, which rejected it last week. Certify the Justice for All Party In North Carolina.
The Republican-led state House Oversight Committee also questioned Chairman Alan Hirsch on Tuesday about why he and others rejected the effort even though staff confirmed voters had collected the number of signatures needed for party approval.
This month, the commission approved two other parties that had collected more than the required 13,865 signatures. Robert F. Kennedy Jr.. It appears on the ballot and is endorsed by the North Carolina Constitution Party.
Supporters of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and Republican lawmakers say Democratic caucus members were trying to block West, a professor and progressive activist, from running because they feared he would steal votes from Democratic candidate Joe Biden, who dropped out of reelection last weekend. Vice President Kamala Harris has since solidified her support for the nomination from Trump. Representative of the Democratic Party.
Clear Choice Action, a group affiliated with a super PAC led by Biden supporters, also wrote the committee last month urging it to reject petitions from Justice for All and We the People.
Hirsch said he was concerned about the way the group People Over Party collected so many signatures. Lawyers for People Over Party say the group was not coordinated with Justice for All. Hirsch noted that of about 50 people randomly contacted by elections officials last week from the petition list, many said they had not signed the petition or did not know what it was for. Monday’s lawsuit was filed by one registered Democrat and two independent voters, whose signatures were among those collected.
“I understand the political climate here. I’m not naive to that,” Hirsch told the House Oversight Committee on Tuesday, “but this decision is based entirely on the facts that I’ve just laid out.”
Hirsch also said commission staff is conducting a criminal investigation after “the commission became aware of or identified signatures that appear to be fraudulent,” though he declined to provide details, saying the investigation is ongoing.
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Republican lawmakers questioned whether election officials jumped to conclusions based on discussions with a small number of people.
“I commend the committee and its staff for being thorough in their work,” said Rep. Jake Johnson, a Polk County Republican who co-chairs the oversight committee, “but I wonder if they were selectively thorough. Did the Democratic-dominated committee move the goalposts to keep the Justice for All Party off the ballot?”
A lawsuit was expected to challenge the committee’s 3-2 vote on July 16, but Italo Medelius, chairman of North Carolina’s Justice for All party, said his party has nothing to do with the lawsuit filed Monday. He said the party will file its own lawsuit.
The lawyers who filed the lawsuit have a history of defending Republican claims, including Phil Strzok, who has worked for years to defend district maps drawn by Republican lawmakers. The Associated Press emailed Strzok on Tuesday seeking comment.
The lawsuit alleges that the state board failed to provide Justice for All with concrete evidence denying the authenticity of more than 17,000 signatures that were deemed valid. The plaintiffs want a judge to determine that Justice for All is a legitimate political party that can place candidates’ names on the top and bottom of the ballot. State election officials have said the deadline for parties to nominate their presidential candidates is mid-August.
West’s campaign said it had secured voting rights in 12 other states but acknowledged that some certification had not yet been completed.
