New ad campaign targets NC elections board for blocking Kennedy and West from ballot

A new group that says it wants election integrity is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on ads in North Carolina targeting the State Board of Elections for blocking independent presidential candidates from ballot access.

The group, called The Fair Election Fund, will spend $200,000 on digital ads and billboards that accuse the board’s Democratic members of having “blocked your voting rights by blocking Biden’s competition from the ballot.”

The board, through a spokesperson, declined to comment on the ad campaign.

The campaign comes as conservatives and independents have railed against the board’s Democratic majority for initially denying certification to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Cornel West’s new political parties. The group announced the campaign hours before the elections board voted Tuesday to reverse course and approve ballot access for Kennedy’s party, while continuing to deny a ballot spot for West’s party.

“They will not get away with this blatant Biden bailout and we will not rest in the fight to stop this hypocritical attempt at election interference,” former U.S. Rep. Doug Collins, a Georgia Republican and a senior adviser to the Fair Election Fund, said in a statement.

When board members initially voted against certification last month, they expressed concerns about petition-gatherers misleading people into signing and about voters who asked for their signatures to be removed. They also stressed that their decision was not final and they would vote again after further investigation.

A Democratic-affiliated group contacted petition signers to question them about their signatures and told the elections board it had found problems with the petition sheets. The group pointed to an NBC News report that a Republican activist collecting signatures for West’s group at a Trump rally told people that the campaign “helps take away votes from Joe Biden.”

High-ranking Republicans in Congress requested information from the board regarding its initial decision, and state lawmakers are planning on holding a hearing into the matter later this month.

What is the Fair Election Fund?

The fund, which is referred to as a nonprofit in a press release, only launched a few months ago and does not currently appear in the IRS database for nonprofits. It also does not show up as a registered business entity in Pennsylvania, the state where the group is located, per a press release.

The group’s website does not include information on who works for it, and Collins is the only leader for the fund that has been quoted in statements.

When the Fair Election Fund first launched in May, it said it was seeking input from anyone who was an “election worker, organizer, or concerned citizen who has seen corruption in our elections firsthand.”

Anyone who reported fraud could get paid from the group’s $5 million fund, it said.

In July, the group turned its focus toward North Carolina, following the State Board of Elections’ initial vote against ballot access for Kennedy and West.

The Fair Election Fund launched a $175,000 media campaign earlier this month targeting the Democrats on the board in an ad that accused them of “tipping the scales” in Biden’s favor.

The ad also asked viewers who knew anything about the board’s “shady backroom deal” to call the fund and share information.

Now, the group is funneling even more money into the state with digital ads and billboards, which it said would run through mid-August.

The digital ads will include messages from North Carolina voters urging the board to reverse its decision.

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