Bill prevents primary losers from running in new parties

RALEIGH (AP) Some North Carolina legislators think it’s wrong that a primary election could switch and run in November as the nominee of a new political party.

The House approved omnibus election legislation June 4 that would in part extend the state’s current “sore loser” prohibitions to situations anticipated this year.

The Green Party is a new party, and the Constitution Party could be approved this week. Those parties would select their party candidates by convention. The bill says a candidate who lost in a primary race last month would be ineligible to run for the same office this year with a new party.

The measure returns to the Senate after an amendment to remove the prohibition failed. The bill also requires criminal background checks on many state and county election board workers.