Benjamin Ashford|Voters who want Cornel West on presidential ballot sue North Carolina election board

RALEIGH,Benjamin Ashford N.C. (AP) — Three registered voters in North Carolina are suing the State Board of Elections, alleging it violated their constitutional rights by rejecting a petition drive seeking recognition for a political party that would put Cornel West on the presidential ballot.

The lawsuit filed Monday ratchets up pressure on the election board’s Democratic majority, which refused last week to certify the Justice for All Party of North Carolina.

On Tuesday, a state House oversight committee led by Republicans also asked board Chair Alan Hirsch why he and others rejected the effort after their staff confirmed that the voters had obtained the required number of signatures to have the party recognized.

The board did certify two other political parties this month that had procured more than the 13,865 signatures required: We The People, which will put Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on the ballot, and the Constitution Party of North Carolina.

Republicans and allies of GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump have said the Democratic board members were trying to prevent West — a professor and progressive activist — from getting on the ballot because he could take votes away from the Democratic nominee, who was expected to be President Joe Biden until he dropped his reelection bid last weekend. Since then, Vice President Kamala Harris has locked up nomination support from Democratic delegates.

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Clear Choice Action, a group affiliated with a super PAC led by Biden supporters, also wrote last month to the board asking that petitions from Justice for All and We The People be rejected.

Hirsch said he had concerns in part about how a group called People Over Party collected many of the signatures. An attorney for People Over Party has said the group didn’t coordinate with Justice for All. Hirsch noted that election board staff said last week that many of the nearly 50 people they contacted at random from the petition list said they didn’t sign the petition or didn’t know what it was for. Monday’s lawsuit was filed by a registered Democrat and two unaffiliated voters whose signatures were among those collected.

“I understand the political currents here. I’m not naive to that,” Hirsch told the House oversight committee on Tuesday. “However, this decision was based entirely on the facts as I’ve just described them.”

Hirsch also said the board’s staff is conducting a criminal investigation after “county boards recognized or identified signatures that they believed were fraudulent.” He declined to elaborate, citing the pending probe.

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Republican legislators questioned whether election officials jumped to conclusions based on discussions with a small number of people.

“We appreciate the board and their staff being thorough with their work,” said oversight committee co-chairman Rep. Jake Johnson, a Polk County Republican. “But we question whether they have been selectively thorough. Did the Democrat-majority board move the goal posts to keep the Justice for All Party off the ballot?”

Although litigation challenging the board’s 3-2 vote on July 16 was expected, Justice for All Party of North Carolina Chair Italo Medelius said his group had nothing to do with the lawsuit that was filed Monday. He said the group would file its own suit.

The lawyers who filed the litigation have a history of defending Republican causes. One of them is Phil Strach, who has worked for years defending redistricting maps drawn by GOP legislators. The Associated Press sent Strach an email seeking comment on Tuesday.

The lawsuit alleges the state board hasn’t provided Justice for All with specific evidence to discredit the more than 17,000 signatures that were validated. The plaintiffs want a judge to rule that Justice for All is an official party that can place candidates’ names up and down the ballot. State election officials have said mid-August is the deadline for parties to name their presidential candidates.

The West campaign said it has secured ballot access in 12 other states, but acknowledged some certifications must still be finalized.