Presidential candidates have been approved for the 2024 elections in North Carolina.
The state Board of Elections said Friday that Democrats will only have President Joe Biden on their primary ballots, while both the Republican and Libertarian parties will field a host of candidates.
Republicans will have the choice of a former President, five current or former governors, and a tech entrepreneur. Donald Trump, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Florida Gov. Ron Desantis are all on the Republican ticket for March.
Trump continues to keep a wide lead over the others on the GOP ticket. The state Board of Elections last week threw out a complaint by a stokes county attorney who said Trump cannot be on the ballot due to his alleged part in the Jan. 6, 2021 protests in Washington.
Trump has not been charged or convicted of any crime in connection to the day, but Democrats, including Pres. Biden, claim that Trump is ineligible to serve under the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. The amendment prohibits anyone from serving in federal office if they have been convicted of participating in an insurrection against the government. A Colorado court last week barred Trump from being placed on the ballot based on the same accusation, and several other states have similar measures pending in courts.
The Libertarian Party primary ballot will have ten candidates including Toad Anderson, Charles Ballay, David “Time Traveler” Dunlap, Jacob Hornberger, Beau Lindsey, Lars Mapstead, Chase Oliver, Michael Rectenwald, Joshua Smith, and Mike ter Maat.
The newly recognized No Labels party, which counts former North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory in its leadership, will decide their candidate for the fall election by caucus. No Labels currently has been recognized in 35 states, and according to their website the party expects to be in all 50 before the General Election next fall.
The Green Party has not announced a primary candidate, but will also nominate one at a national caucus. Democrats are trying again to block the Greens from appearing on any presidential ballots. The State Board of Elections voted 3-2 in June 2022 not to allow the Greens to field a candidate in the tight race between Democrat Cheri Beasley and Rep. Tedd Budd, who handily defeated Beasley.
North Carolina is an open primary state, which means unaffiliated voters may vote in the partisan primary of either party during primary elections. Unaffiliated and Republican voter roles have been on the rise since 2016. Some voters choose to register as unaffiliated in counties where a single party is the de facto winner in spring primaries due to a lack of opposition candidates.
Currently, Columbus County has 14,085 registered Democrats, 11,259 unaffiliated, 10,721 Republicans, 114 Libertarians, five Green voters, three No Labels voters, and no Constitution party membe
