'No Labels' Movement Recognized in North Carolina, Earning Ballot Access
RALEIGH, N.C. (NEWSnet/AP) — A national political movement that could offer a presidential ticket in 2024 said Monday it has now won ballot access in 10 states, after North Carolina election officials granted official status to a “No Labels” affiliate.
The State Board of Elections voted 4-1 on Sunday to recognize the No Labels Party as an official North Carolina party following a successful petition effort. It joins four other recognized parties in that state with which voters can now choose to be registered and field candidates.
The new North Carolina party is linked to a national No Labels effort that lists a wide array of mostly centrist political leaders backing it. They include ex-North Carolina GOP Gov. Pat McCrory, U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and former Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, a former Democrat who became an independent.
No Labels is poised to offer an independent ticket for president and vice president if Democrats and Republicans “select unreasonably divisive presidential nominees.”
The other affiliations are in Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Nevada, Oregon, South Dakota and Utah.
Reaching 10 states is "a historic victory for Americans who have said loud and clear they want more choices at the ballot box. The spirit of democracy is winning in America today,” civil rights leader Benjamin Chavis, a North Carolina native and national co-chair of No Labels, said in a news release Monday.
There is no named ticket yet for No Labels. Group leaders have said it would stand down if there’s no clear path to victory next year.
But some Democrats are worried that won’t happen, leading unintentionally to the election of Republican Donald Trump.
The other official North Carolina parties are the Democratic, Republican, Green and Libertarian parties. Voters also can register as unaffiliated.
While the national No Labels group is organized under a section of federal tax law in which it now doesn’t have to disclose its donors, the state affiliate would have to follow state campaign finance disclosure rules, as the other recognized parties must do.
Copyright 2023 NEWSnet and The Associated Press. All rights reserved.