(The Center Square) – Four parties that have lost recognition remained on Saturday’s update of voter registrations by the North Carolina State Board of Elections, with just one of 100 counties showing zero for each of the quartet.
Correspondingly, there was little change in voter percentages for the state’s more than 7.5 million registered voters. The unaffiliated bloc (37.8% of all registrations), Democrats (30.7%) and Republicans (30.4%) remain the top three, with the unaffiliated bloc still poised to increase the most.
The No Labels (30,048 registrations through Saturday), We The People (2,372), Justice For All (1,040) and Constitution (799) parties each fell off the recognized list because of failure by candidates to receive at least 2% of the total vote for governor or president last November. The state board confirmed those registered with those respective parties would transfer to unaffiliated pending voters making changes.
Each party was down slightly in Saturday’s update. Rockingham County, home to the Senate president pro tempore, was the lone county on the list with all four parties at zero.
The board on Thursday did not offer a deadline for making the changes. Each of 100 county boards are expected to change with Tuesday’s meeting of the state board and appointments on the agenda.
The Libertarian Party (45,960 registrations), at six-tenths of 1%, is the third largest in the state. The Green Party (4,010), at five-one hundredths of 1%, is the only other recognized party.
On Jan. 1, 2004, the state’s more than 5 million voters were split 47.6% Democrats, 34.4% Republicans and 17.7% unaffiliated. Today, only 19,816 registrations separate Republicans from pulling even with Democrats.
