Published Monday, April 9, 2018 at 9:43 am

By Luke Weir

The North Carolina Green Party was added to voter registration applications by the state board of elections Thursday. Voters can now register with the Green Party before the voter registration deadline April 13 for May Primaries.

The new voter registration application is available for download from the state board website, and hard copies will soon be distributed to county boards of elections and other organizations that provide voter registration services, according to a statement from the Bipartisan State Board of Elections and Ethics Enforcement.

The North Carolina Green Party’s ten key values include grassroots democracy, ecological wisdom and non-violence, among other values, according to its website. The Green Party platform emphasizes voter efficacy and election reform, and its statement of purpose focuses on activism.

The Green Party is the fourth political party recognized on North Carolina voter registration forms, along with the Libertarian, Republican and Democratic Parties.

Although the state board’s statement said the Green Party is electing representatives by convention rather than primary election this year, the party’s recognition came 8 days before the primary election voter registration deadline on April 13 at 5 p.m.

“We encourage all eligible individuals to register to vote to help elect their representatives in local, state and federal government,” state board executive director Kim Westbrook Strach said in the statement.

One-stop early voting starts April 19 and continues weekdays until Saturday, May 5 at various sites around Watauga County. Same-Day registration is available during the early voting period to persons not registered in a county, so long as they provide a valid form of photo identification showing their current name and address, according to the state board of elections website.

Primary election day is May 8. Stay tuned to High Country Press for more elections coverage.