.png)
North Carolina always feels like a pressure cooker during an election year. You've got the mountains on one side, the coast on the other, and a whole lot of purple in between. Looking back at the 2024 North Carolina presidential ballot candidates list, it was easily one of the most crowded and litigious lineups we've seen in decades. Honestly, it wasn't just about the big two names everyone expects; it was a year where third parties actually managed to fight their way through the red tape of the State Board of Elections.
It’s kinda wild when you think about it. For a long time, NC was a tough nut to crack for anyone not carrying a "D" or an "R" next to their name. But 2024 changed that vibe. We ended up with six official tickets on the ballot, the most since at least 2008. If you were standing in the voting booth in Raleigh or Charlotte, or even a tiny precinct in Avery County, you had choices that felt a lot broader than usual.
The Names That Made the Cut
Basically, the ballot wasn't just a two-horse race. While the national media focused on the heavy hitters, North Carolinians saw a list that reflected a lot of the internal friction happening across the country.
The 2024 North Carolina presidential ballot candidates list officially featured:
Donald J. Trump and J.D. Vance (Republican)
The former president had a strong foothold here, eventually carrying the state's 16 electoral votes with about 51% of the popular vote. North Carolina has been a reliable, if narrow, win for the GOP lately, and 2024 kept that streak alive.
Kamala D. Harris and Tim Walz (Democratic)
After Joe Biden stepped aside, Harris took the top spot. She performed well in urban centers like Wake and Mecklenburg, pulling in roughly 47.6% of the state's vote. It was close, but not quite enough to flip the state blue.
💡 You might also like: Jersey City Shooting Today: What Really Happened on the Ground
Chase Oliver and Mike ter Maat (Libertarian)
Oliver is a guy who describes himself as "armed and gay," which definitely brings a different energy to the Libertarian ticket. He managed to snag about 0.4% of the vote in NC, which sounds small but represents over 22,000 people.
Jill Stein and Butch Ware (Green Party)
Stein is a veteran of these ballots. The Green Party had to jump through some serious hoops to get recognized in North Carolina again, but they made it. She ended up neck-and-neck with the Libertarians at 0.4%.
Randall Terry and Stephen E. Broden (Constitution Party)
If you're looking for the far-right, religious-conservative end of the spectrum, that was Terry. His campaign was largely built on a staunch anti-abortion platform. He drew about 0.1% of the vote.
Cornel West and Melina Abdullah (Justice for All)
This was a major point of drama. The "Justice for All" party faced a lot of pushback from the State Board of Elections. There were long debates and even lawsuits about whether their petition signatures were legit. Eventually, West got on and took about 0.2% of the NC vote.
Why the Ballot Looked Different This Time
The road to getting on that 2024 North Carolina presidential ballot candidates list was anything but smooth. North Carolina has some of the more "interesting" ballot access laws in the South.
📖 Related: Jeff Pike Bandidos MC: What Really Happened to the Texas Biker Boss
You might remember the whole "We the People" party situation. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was originally going to be on the ballot under that banner. It caused a massive headache for election officials. Kennedy actually succeeded in getting on, but then he dropped out and endorsed Trump.
Then the real mess started.
He fought to get his name off the ballot so he wouldn't pull votes away from the Republican ticket. This happened so late in the game that some counties had already started printing ballots. It actually delayed the mailing of overseas and absentee ballots, which is a big no-no in the election world. In the end, his name was removed, which is why he’s not on the final list of six.
Real Talk: The Third-Party Impact
Some people say a vote for a third party is a "wasted" vote. Others in North Carolina argue that if the big parties don't represent them, they have to go elsewhere.
In a state where the margin between the Republican and Democrat was only about 3 points, that 1.2% of "other" votes actually matters. If you add up the votes for Stein, Oliver, West, and Terry, you're looking at tens of thousands of North Carolinians who weren't satisfied with the main menu.
👉 See also: January 6th Explained: Why This Date Still Defines American Politics
The biggest surprise for many was how much the "Justice for All" and "Green Party" platforms resonated in college towns like Boone or Chapel Hill, while the "Constitution Party" found its tiny but dedicated pockets in the more rural, traditional areas.
How to Check Future Ballots
If you want to stay ahead of the curve for the next cycle, don't wait for the news to tell you who made it. The North Carolina State Board of Elections (NCSBE) is actually pretty transparent—once the lawsuits finish, anyway.
- Go to the NCSBE website.
- Look for the "Candidate Filing" section.
- Check the "Petitions" page to see which new parties are trying to gather the 13,000+ signatures required.
It’s a grueling process. To get a new party on the ballot, they have to get signatures from thousands of registered voters across multiple congressional districts. It's designed to make sure only "serious" contenders get through, but as we saw in 2024, "serious" is often a matter of who has the best lawyers.
Basically, the 2024 ballot was a snapshot of a state in transition. You had the traditional powerhouses, a few persistent third parties, and a whole lot of legal drama that kept the printers running late. It wasn't just a list of names; it was a map of the different ways North Carolinians are trying to be heard.
To stay ready for the next one, make sure your voter registration is up to date through the NCDMV or your local county board of elections office. If you're interested in the finer details of how these groups got there, you can pull the full, certified vote counts from the NCSBE's public data portal to see exactly how your neighborhood voted.