RALEIGH, N.C. — The Green Party in North Carolina will continue to be recognized as an official political party, allowing it to present candidates statewide through the 2028 elections despite failing to meet the required vote threshold for their 2024 governor and presidential nominees. This decision was made by the Republican-controlled State Board of Elections, with a 3-2 vote taking place on Thursday. The board’s decision could influence upcoming races for top offices such as the presidency, the U.S. Senate, and the governorship, along with various other statewide and local positions.
Had the board not taken this step on Thursday, the Green Party would have been grouped with other smaller parties that lost their official status due to insufficient votes. These parties include the Constitution, Justice for All, No Labels, and We the People parties. None of these parties’ candidates secured at least 2% of the total vote for either governor or president, a requirement to continue as an official party in the state. As a consequence, voters registered with these four parties will be shifted to unaffiliated status in the voter rolls beginning next week. These parties would need to secure approximately 14,000 signatures to restore their official party status, a job that demands significant time and financial resources.
In its plea to the board, the North Carolina Green Party proposed applying an alternative criterion as per state law, which allows a group of voters to establish a political party if they managed to nominate a candidate for the general election ballot across at least 35 states during the previous presidential election. The party presented a document from the Federal Election Commission to demonstrate that Jill Stein, the Green Party’s nominee, featured on the November 2024 ballot in 38 states. However, the document also noted that Stein was not nominated by the Green Party or its affiliate in seven of those states. In three of these states, she appeared as an independent candidate.
Jeff Carmon, a Democratic member of the board, expressed skepticism, arguing that Stein did not manage to secure the official nomination from the Green Party or an affiliate in the stipulated 35 states, thus not meeting the standard. Yet, the Republican members perceived the situation differently. Board Chairman Francis De Luca clarified that even if Stein was listed as a nominee of another party or as an independent, she was still the national candidate of the Green Party. With this reasoning, the Republican members reached a consensus that the North Carolina Green Party ought to maintain its official status. The decision saw the three Republican members in favor, while the two Democrat members opposed.
The board’s composition shifted recently from a Democratic majority to a Republican one, after a state law passed in 2024 transferred appointment power from the governor to the state auditor. The decision on Thursday culminates with North Carolina now having four recognized political parties: the Democratic, Republican, Libertarian, and Green Party. Currently, the largest section of North Carolina’s 7.53 million registered voters is unaffiliated, accounting for 2.85 million individuals, with roughly 4,000 being registered with the Green Party.