RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — No Labels brands itself as an organization for the “politically homeless” — people who aren’t comfortable with either party.
“The people are asking for more choices and are not content with the choices that might be the conclusions of what the Democrats and Republicans actually want,” said former North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory who now serves as No Labels’ national co-chair.
“The good news out of today was the signatures were verified. We met all the requirements of voter signatures meeting the threshold of North Carolina law,” said McCrory.
During its scheduled Thursday meeting, the North Carolina State Board of Elections acknowledged that No Labels has gathered 14,797 verified signatures. That’s more than enough to be recognized as a party in the 2024 election.
But, the board stopped short of certifying No Labels’ petition so the board could have more time to ask questions. The board will make a final decision on August 13. McCrory says his organization has had the required signatures for several months and has been waiting to get on the agenda.
“People will have confidence of our elections if they know politics isn’t being played and what we want to make sure is politics isn’t being played to the voters of North Carolina or in other states, and that the right thing is done and done very, very quickly, three months delay is already too much,” McCrory said.
In the meantime, the progressive organization called MoveOn acknowledges a third-party candidate would take votes away from democrats.
“We have no problem with third parties and frankly we’ve got no problem with No Labels’ right to be on the ballot. We do disagree with their approach, and we want to make sure that they’re not misleading voters and that’s really what it’s all about,” said MoveOn spokesperson Joel Payne.
While Maine’s secretary of state informed voters they may have been misled when asked to sign the No Labels petition in that state, that is not the case in North Carolina.
If someone signs a petition to get a third party on the NC ballot, it doesn’t change their voter registration. McCrory sees some of the negative rhetoric as purely political.
“There’s almost a duopoly of the two parties that the power elite wants to keep and we think the voters of the nation and the voters of North Carolina deserve another choice. If in fact the people are dissatisfied with the two choices after Super Tuesday,” he said.
