The Constitution Party could soon add candidates to North Carolina's ballot this November.
For months, volunteers for the conservative third-party organization have been collecting signatures. The State Board of Elections has now verified more than 14,000 signatures from voters who want the party to appear on the ballot this year — enough to meet the state's tough standards for third parties. The legal threshold is 13,865 signatures, or 0.25% of the number of voters who cast ballots in the last election for governor.
The State Board of Elections still needs to vote to certify the petition results before the Constitution Party can start nominating candidates.
"The next step is for the party to submit its petitions and certifications of the number of signatures verified by each county board to the State Board for it to review and determine whether the petition meets the legal requirements," said Pat Gannon, a spokesman for the agency.
Al Pisano is the party's chairman, and he ran for governor when the party had ballot access in 2020. Because the party didn't get 2% of the votes that year, it lost ballot access and had to start the petition process again. He says the next step involves collecting petitions the party had submitted to each of the state's 100 counties — each signature had to be verified in the county where the person signing is registered to vote — and take them to Raleigh.
"They scrutinize those signatures that people sign, just for the petition, a lot more than they actually scrutinize who's coming in to vote — which to me, it just blows my mind," Pisano said. "It's a long arduous process. It is not easy whatsoever."
The N.C. Green Party faced hurdles at the State Board of Elections two year ago, with allegations of fraud in its petition process. The party ultimately sued over the issue and got cleared to appear on the ballot.
Once the State Board of Elections certifies the Constitution Party, it will nominate candidates through a convention — there will be no primary election under state law.
"We plan on running candidates for all offices in North Carolina, all the way up and down from local school boards, all the way up to congressmen and senators and state representatives," Pisano said, adding that he doesn't plan to be the party's candidate for governor again.
Third parties could affect close races this fall. The Constitution Party draws support from voters who might otherwise favor Republicans. The left-leaning Green Party will also have candidates on the ballot this year, along with candidates for the Libertarian Party. The No Labels Party also has ballot access but is only considering having a candidate for president.
Pisano received 20,934 votes for governor in 2020, or 0.38% of the vote. That same year, a statewide election for N.C. Supreme Court chief justice was decided by a margin of just 400 votes.
Pisano says he's seeing increasing interest in alternatives to the two major parties' candidates.
"We’re hearing a lot of discontent from unaffiliated voters," Pisano said. "Because people are dissatisfied — both conservative and moderate, and even people more towards the left on the liberal end — with the two-party establishment system."
The Constitution Party's "core values" include opposition to abortion and same-sex marriage and support for gun rights. It wants the United States to end its participation in the United Nations and other international organizations.
