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Green Party Now An Official Party In North Carolina

A bill to make it easier for third-party candidates to participate in elections in North Carolina is poised to pass soon.
Amy Townsend
/
WUNC
A bill to make it easier for third-party candidates to participate in elections in North Carolina is poised to pass soon.
A bill to make it easier for third-party candidates to participate in elections in North Carolina is poised to pass soon.
Amy Townsend
A bill to make it easier for third-party candidates to participate in elections in North Carolina is poised to pass soon.

The Green Party has become North Carolina's fourth official political party thanks to a new law offering more options to qualify, giving more candidate choices to some voters this fall.The state elections board unanimously accepted the application of the Green Party of North Carolina on Tuesday. Its candidates can now automatically be put on state ballots through at least 2020.

North Carolina Green Party Co-Chair Jan Martell said recognition gives her organization the same status as Democrats, Republicans and Libertarians for federal, state and local offices in North Carolina.

"You don't really have any credibility until you can get your party name printed on the ballot," Martell said.

It's too late for the Green Party to hold primaries in North Carolina this election season but Green candidates may be nominated for the General Election at a party convention.

The decision also means registered voters can now officially affiliate with the Green Party.

It's been difficult for smaller groups to become official parties because they had to collect more than 90,000 signatures of voters. A law approved last October lowers that threshold and also approves a new method based on whether the party has fielded candidates in at least 35 other states.

Copyright 2018 North Carolina Public Radio

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Rusty Jacobs is a politics reporter for WUNC. Rusty previously worked at WUNC as a reporter and substitute host from 2001 until 2007 and now returns after a nine-year absence during which he went to law school at Carolina and then worked as an Assistant District Attorney in Wake County.
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