Party’s Over: Constitution, Green Parties Lose State Recognition

RALEIGH – It was fun while it lasted. Two political parties, who only just recently joined the list of sanctioned parties with ballot access in North Carolina, have now fallen below thresholds required to maintain official recognition.

The Constitution Party of North Carolina and the Green Party of North Carolina both gained ballot access as the waning of the two main parties and a shift to unaffiliated registrations ripened interest in alternate parties. But after the 2020 elections, both fell short, and out of the running.

From WRAL:

“[…] Neither party reached the required 2% of votes it needed in the 2020 election, officials said. As a result, North Carolina voters will no longer be able to affiliate with either party.

On Feb. 23, the State Board of Elections will meet to determine when voters currently registered under the Green or Constitution parties will be changed to unaffiliated status. According to state law, the change occur no earlier than 90 days after the Nov. 3 election.

According to its official website, the Green Party is “part of a global Green movement” with key values of peace and non-violence, ecological wisdom, grassroots democracy and social justice. The party was recognized in North Carolina in March 2018 and had about 3,600 members statewide.

The Constitution Party of North Carolina is a pro-life, pro-second amendment and anti-socialism party, according to its website. It was first recognized in the state in June 2018 and had about 4,600 members for the 2020 election. […]”

This comes as buzz about a new national party, following the acrimony between the MAGA universe and the GOP Establishment and teases from former President Donald Trump about forming a new ‘Patriot Party.’

Such a party would certainly enjoy more momentum than the Constitution and Green Parties did, but it’d likely enjoy a different distinction altogether of ensuring Democratic Party victories for the near and medium term while the parties of the Right slug it out.

While the Green and Constitution Parties are no more, the forces behind them don’t really share the same fate in the bigger picture. The Green Party has become largely moot in an era where the Democratic Party platform hinges on the Green New Deal. They haven’t lost as much as the mainstream party winners embraced their environmental whacko-ism even tighter.

Contrarily, while the Constitution Party couldn’t begin to compete with the luster of a still relatively conservative MAGA Movement, it exits the stage with very different prospects for it’s core mission. Indeed, with the Democrats in full control through 2022, the Constitution itself is in serious peril.

Hopefully not so on a state level, where Republicans expanded control of the legislature and assumed leadership in the judiciary.