The bipartisan No Labels Party has filed a lawsuit to bar Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes from letting candidates run for office under the third-party group’s banner.
The complaint, filed on Friday in U.S. District Court in Phoenix, alleges that Mr. Fontes, a Democrat, has forced the party to offer its ballot line to candidates in races where it has expressly declined to compete, a move they say violates their constitutional rights.
The No Labels Party, which leans centrist, has for the last two years pushed to secure ballot access in various states across the nation.
The party has said that it will run a bipartisan “unity ticket” for president “if the two parties select unreasonably divisive presidential nominees.”
Arizona is among 11 states the group has secured access for a possible presidential candidate in the upcoming 2024 election.
The stakes are particularly high in Arizona, which President Joe Biden won by fewer than 11,000 votes in 2020, less than half a percentage point. President Biden won two other states by less than one percentage point.
Democrats Fear No Label Spoiler Candidate
Fears have risen amongst President Biden’s supporters that a No Labels ticket in Arizona could be a spoiler to his reflection because of his narrow victory in 2020.“The law is clearly on the side of No Labels,” said Benjamin Chavis Jr., a former head of the NAACP and the national co-chair of No Labels. “So the question is, ‘Why is the secretary of state acting the way he’s acting?’”
“It has nothing to do with the law, it has more to do with politics,” Mr. Chavis said.
Larry Hogan, the former Republican governor of Maryland, who also serves as a national co-chair for the No Labels Party, said the party isn’t “trying to spoil anything.”
“This is about actually receiving a majority of the votes,” said Mr. Hogan, who is weighing a presidential bid under the third-party label.
Party Alleges Violation of Constitutional Rights
In August, tensions rose when Mr. Fontes’ office attempted to compel the No Labels party of Arizona to nominate candidates in races even if party leaders didn’t want them.“The Arizona Secretary of State disagrees with your assertion that a newly recognized political party can choose to deprive its own voters of their constitutionally protected freedom of association,” State Elections Director Colleen Connor wrote in a Sept. 22 letter.
The No Labels group’s complaint asserts that these actions contravene both Arizona state law and the fundamental rights of freedom of association protected by the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution.
Under Arizona law, political parties are granted the authority to decide whether they will nominate candidates for specific political offices.
The No Labels Party of Arizona alleges that Mr. Fontes is infringing upon their rights by forcing the party to engage in elections for the Arizona corporation commissioner and U.S. senator positions.
In accordance with the law, if a party opts not to partake in a particular race, they are not obligated to nominate or acknowledge candidates seeking to run under their party’s banner.
Citing a 2000 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that “a corollary of the right to associate is the right to not associate,” the No Labels Party of Arizona contends that the state has unconstitutionally imposed its judgment on the party and unlawfully interfered with their strategic decisions.
The complaint was filed in order to safeguard their rights and protect the integrity of the democratic process.
“Our lawsuit in Arizona underscores the importance of respecting the autonomy and freedom of association of political parties, rights that are essential elements of the American democratic process,” said No Labels Director of Ballot Integrity Jay Nixon, who formerly served as governor and attorney general of Missouri.
Benjamin Chavis, national co-chair of No Labels, emphasized the lawsuit’s significance for the right to freedom of association.
“Political parties should have the liberty to define their goals and focus without external imposition,” he said in a statement.
The complaint seeks a declaration that Mr. Fontes violated Arizona law and the First and Fourteenth Amendments.
It also requests both preliminary and permanent injunctions to prevent any further infringement on the rights of the No Labels Party of Arizona, as well as the award of attorneys’ fees and litigation costs, retention of jurisdiction, and any other necessary relief.
“We firmly believe in protecting the fundamental rights of political parties and their ability to define their mission and objectives. The No Labels Party of Arizona has a specific purpose, and we are committed to defending its rights under the law,” declared Gail Koshland, Chair of the No Labels Party of Arizona.
No Labels qualified as a political party for the ballot in Arizona in 2024 in March.
The No Labels party bills itself as an alternative to the status quo and is made up of Democrats, Republicans, and independents, describing itself as “different” from other parties, claiming to be “intellectually open” about solutions and “spry and indefatigable.”
“We want to hear peoples’ ideas, particularly from those who feel iced out from the loudest and angriest voices in the Democratic and Republican parties,” the group writes on its official website.
In August, an Arizona judge rejected a lawsuit brought by Democrats targeting the recently created No Labels party, which many Democrats fear will boost former President Donald Trump’s bid to return to the White House.
