Special to Iredell Free News

The State Board of Elections on Sunday voted to recognize the No Labels Party as an official political party in North Carolina.

Recognition of No Labels means voters now have another choice of party affiliation when registering to vote or updating their registration. Voters may register with the Democratic, Green, Libertarian, No Labels, or Republican parties, or they can register as unaffiliated.

The State Board found that No Labels received 14,837 valid signatures from registered N.C. voters, 932 over the required 13,865 signatures, on its petition to become a political party. The signatures were verified by the county boards of elections of the counties in which they were collected. No Labels also received at least 200 signatures from three different congressional districts, a requirement of “Political party” defined; creation of new party. N.C.G.S. § 163-96(a)(2).

The State Board meeting was held Sunday in Concord, as part of the Summer 2023 Elections Conference. This conference – required under Statewide training and certification for election officials. N.C.G.S. § 163-82.24 – brings together State Board staff, county election directors and staff, and hundreds of county boards of elections members for training on important election administration issues.

Voters currently registered with a different political party or as unaffiliated may switch their affiliation to No Labels if they wish. For information on how to do that, see Updating Registration.

The State Board is updating voter registration forms to include the No Labels option. Until then, voters may register with No Labels by checking the “Other” box and writing “No Labels” on the line in the “Political Party Affiliation” section of the voter registration application. Updates to party affiliation options available through the Division of Motor Vehicles’ online registration portal will be made as soon as possible.

State Board voter data will be updated to include No Labels Party registrants as soon as possible.