Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will appear on the ballot in North Carolina, the state Board of Elections board decided Tuesday.
The We the People Party was approved for ballot access with Kennedy as its presidential nominee in a 4-1 vote. The Justice for All Party, backing independent Cornel West, was denied ballot access.
The board initially delayed its decision on access for both groups last month, after Democrats on the board questioned how the groups gathered signatures. Republicans blasted that decision as an attempt to boost President Biden’s chances in the state by keeping other candidates off the ballot.
The Kennedy campaign’s North Carolina ballot access efforts have been criticized as attempts to skirt around the higher signature requirements for independent candidates. While the We the People Party was required to file 13,000 signatures to gain ballot access, Kennedy would have needed over 80,000 on his own.
Democratic-affiliated group Clear Choice Action filed the complaints against both parties, claiming that they should not be given ballot access. The group sent text messages to some voters who signed the parties’ petitions to question their motives and investigate the signature process, The Raleigh News & Observer reported.
After the board denied West ballot access in a 3-2 vote, Democratic board member Alan Hirsch called the Justice for All Party effort “troubling.”
“I have no confidence that this was done legitimately,” he said, journalist Bryan Anderson reported.