On Thursday, Green Party Senate candidate Matthew Hoh and fellow plaintiffs filed a lawsuit against the North Carolina State Board of Elections, which denied the NC Green Party’s petition for ballot access in a 3-2 vote. The NCGP submitted 2,000-plus verified signatures more than required by law, and the denial of this legitimate petition left the campaign and supporters stunned and outraged.
The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina by lead attorney Oliver Hall of the Center for Competitive Democracy, with other plaintiffs including the NC Green Party and Matthew Hoh campaign supporters who circulated or signed the petition.
“We are fighting for our democracy against this corrupt, lawless, and partisan decision by the State Board of Elections,” said Hoh. “This case will determine whether the political establishment can abuse its power to stop another party from participating in elections, simply because they don’t want to compete with candidates who stand for working people, our planet, peace, and real democracy.”
All three Democrats on the State Board of Elections voted to keep the Green Party off the ballot. This came after the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee targeted petition signers with a massive operation attempting to remove their names from the petition. In several cases, petition signers were contacted by unknown operatives who falsely claimed to represent the Green Party.
“The State Board of Elections not only violated state law, but also violated the constitutional rights of Matthew Hoh and more than 22,000 voters who signed the Green Party petitions,” said lead attorney Oliver Hall. “We filed this case to protect the right of all North Carolina voters to vote in a free and fair election – not the Democrats’ attempt to win by suppressing voter choice.”
Matthew Hoh’s campaign manager Rose Roby also highlighted how the case illustrates a larger fight for democracy. “Keeping the Green Party and its candidates off the ballot, in spite of having far exceeded the threshold to qualify, puts voter choice and grassroots democracy in peril; this injustice must be rectified in the courts.”
A press conference will be held Friday afternoon (details to follow in a separate Press Advisory),
with candidate Matthew Hoh further addressing how this case impacts the Matthew Hoh for
Senate campaign and the North Carolina Green Party, as well as future third party candidacies.
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Original source can be found here.
