美国国家公共电台 NPR--North Carolina's Green Party says Democrats are working to keep it off 2022 ballot

North Carolina's Green Party says Democrats² are working to keep it off 2022 ballot³

Transcript⁴

Ralph Nader in 2000. Jill Stein in 2016. Many Democrats think those Green Party candidates cost Democrats the presidency⁵ those years.

In North Carolina's high-profile U.S. Senate race this November, the Green Party may not have the chance to play spoiler.

That's because the state Board of Elections, which is controlled by Democrats, has — so far — refused to give the Green Party a spot on the ballot, citing possible fraud in their ballot petition.

That's sparked complaints from the Green Party — along with Republicans — that the board is undermining the Green Party to boost Democratic Senate candidate Cheri Beasley as she faces off against Republican nominee⁶ Ted⁷ Budd.

The Green Party filed a lawsuit⁸ Thursday to try to force the state to give it a spot on the ballot.

The election board has said it's only doing its job, and that it must ensure the signatures needed for ballot access are legitimate⁹.

In late June, the board's executive director, Karen Brinson Bell, told board members that there are problems with the Green Party's signatures.

"There are numerous pages that have obvious signs of fraud or irregularities," she said. "These include the same handwriting throughout and similar signatures."

In the 2020 presidential and gubernatorial elections in North Carolina, the Green Party received less than 2% of the vote. That meant that the party needed a petition to be recognized in 2022.

For the petition, the Green Party needed the signatures of 13,865 voters. The party collected more than 22,000, and county elections boards certified¹⁰ nearly 16,000.

But those boards also told the state there were "irregularities" on the signature sheets.

Brinson Bell said she needed more time to investigate — even though a longer investigation¹¹ means the Green Party could miss an August deadline for the state to prepare the ballot.

"When you look at these cumulatively¹², we feel like there is a cloud over how many signatures are valid," she said.

Brinson Bell was appointed by the state's Democratic governor. The board's three Democrats voted on June 30 not to certify¹³ the Greens' petition. The two Republicans on the board voted yes.

The Green Party cries foul¹⁴

The Green Party's U.S. Senate candidate, Matthew Hoh, an Afghanistan veteran, said almost all of the signatures were collected by the party's own volunteers. But he acknowledged they also used a contractor¹⁵ that turned in what he estimated were roughly 200 false signatures.

He said the Green Party was shocked when its petition was rejected.

"And none of it as far as we were told or represented to us amounted to what would be considered systemic fraud," Hoh said. "This is going to happen when you collect signatures. Someone will write Mickey Mouse in there, thinking it's funny."

Hoh said the elections board ignored the already-verified signatures and decided¹⁶ that "because there was this fraud, these 200 signatures, there could be more."

The board of elections, on the other hand, said it believes there could be more than 2,000 fraudulent signatures. It said it's opened a criminal investigation.

The board's chair, Damon Circosta, a Democrat¹, got into a heated argument with a Green Party attorney during the June 30 meeting. He said this week that "politics played a zero percent role in this board's decision to wait before they decided whether they would certify whether the Green Party could be on the ballot."

He said the board could reverse its decision by the end of the month if the investigation finds enough signatures are OK.

Phone calls to remove names

But in this ballot access dispute, there was some politics clearly at play.

Ahead of the board's vote, a former operative with the state Democratic Party sent a letter alleging¹⁷ that the Greens had misled voters and had hidden their ideology¹⁸. The letter included some voters' requests to have their names removed from the petition.

The former operative's counsel: the Elias Law Group, which represents the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

Green Party Senate candidate Hoh said Democrats were undermining his supporters.

"We started hearing from folks who signed the petition saying, 'Hey, someone just contacted me asking to take my name off the petition,' " Hoh said. "And we said, 'What?' "

He released a recording¹⁹ of a phone call he claimed was between Tony Ndege, who is the co-chair of the state Green Party, with someone who tried to get him to take his name off the petition.

In the call, Ndege asks the person: "Is this the Green Party?"

The caller says "yes."

He asks again if the caller is with the Green Party, and the caller again says yes.

When asked, Ndege says he signed the petition. The caller then appears to read from a script, saying the Green Party will help Republicans.

"Are you interested in asking to have your name removed from this petition or leave it?" the caller asks.

Ndege says he is "confused."

"So if you are with the Green Party, why are you asking me to remove?" he asks.

Then the phone call ends. It's unclear who made it.

The Elias Law Group and the North Carolina Democratic Party did not respond to interview requests.

Circosta said the election board's investigation had already started before the letter challenging the signatures.

But the entire episode has raised skepticism.

"There must be something advantageous²⁰ for the Democrat Party not having the Green Party on the ballot," said GOP elections board member Tommy Tucker.

The Senate race — for an open seat after Republican Richard Burr said he wouldn't run again — is expected to be tight.

And Beasley, the Democratic nominee, knows about close races. She lost her reelection bid to the state Supreme²¹ Court two years ago by just 401 votes.

1 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

2 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 ballot   

n.（不记名）投票，投票总数，投票权；vi.投票

参考例句：

• The members have demanded a ballot.会员们要求投票表决。
• The union said they will ballot members on whether to strike.工会称他们将要求会员投票表决是否罢工。

4 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

5 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

6 nominee   

n.被提名者；被任命者；被推荐者

参考例句：

• His nominee for vice president was elected only after a second ballot.他提名的副总统在两轮投票后才当选。
• Mr.Francisco is standing as the official nominee for the post of District Secretary.弗朗西斯科先生是行政书记职位的正式提名人。

7 ted   

vt.翻晒，撒，撒开

参考例句：

• The invaders gut ted the village.侵略者把村中财物洗劫一空。
• She often teds the corn when it's sunny.天好的时候她就翻晒玉米。

8 lawsuit   

n.诉讼，控诉

参考例句：

• They threatened him with a lawsuit.他们以诉讼威逼他。
• He was perpetually involving himself in this long lawsuit.他使自己无休止地卷入这场长时间的诉讼。

9 legitimate   

adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法

参考例句：

• Sickness is a legitimate reason for asking for leave.生病是请假的一个正当的理由。
• That's a perfectly legitimate fear.怀有这种恐惧完全在情理之中。

10 certified   

a.经证明合格的；具有证明文件的

参考例句：

• Doctors certified him as insane. 医生证明他精神失常。
• The planes were certified airworthy. 飞机被证明适于航行。

11 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

12 cumulatively   

adv.累积地，渐增地

参考例句：

• Mind has become self-reproducing through man's capacity to transmit experience and its products cumulatively. 通过传递生活经验和积累创造的产品，人类的智慧在不断地进行着自我丰富。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• At first, the drug does no harm, but cumulatively its effects are bad. 这药开始对人没有害处，但连续服用后果就坏了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 certify   

vt.证明，证实；发证书(或执照)给

参考例句：

• I can certify to his good character.我可以证明他品德好。
• This swimming certificate is to certify that I can swim one hundred meters.这张游泳证是用以证明我可以游100米远。

14 foul   

adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规

参考例句：

• Take off those foul clothes and let me wash them.脱下那些脏衣服让我洗一洗。
• What a foul day it is!多么恶劣的天气！

15 contractor   

n.订约人，承包人，收缩肌

参考例句：

• The Tokyo contractor was asked to kick $ 6000 back as commission.那个东京的承包商被要求退还6000美元作为佣金。
• The style of house the contractor builds depends partly on the lay of the land.承包商所建房屋的式样，有几分要看地势而定。

16 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

17 alleging   

断言，宣称，辩解( allege的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• His reputation was blemished by a newspaper article alleging he'd evaded his taxes. 由于报上一篇文章声称他曾逃税，他的名誉受到损害。
• This our Peeress declined as unnecessary, alleging that her cousin Thornhill's recommendation would be sufficient. 那位贵人不肯，还说不必，只要有她老表唐希尔保荐就够了。

18 ideology   

n.意识形态，(政治或社会的)思想意识

参考例句：

• The ideology has great influence in the world.这种思想体系在世界上有很大的影响。
• The ideal is to strike a medium between ideology and inspiration.我的理想是在意识思想和灵感鼓动之间找到一个折衷。

19 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

20 advantageous   

adj.有利的；有帮助的

参考例句：

• Injections of vitamin C are obviously advantageous.注射维生素C显然是有利的。
• You're in a very advantageous position.你处于非常有利的地位。

21 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。