AUGUSTA, Maine — No Labels has been officially recognized as a qualified political party in Maine, according to a news release Friday from the office of Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows.
The qualification means the party can participate in the primary election on June 11 and will also have ballot access for the general election for the presidential race this year. No Labels brings the total number of official political parties in Maine up to five.
As of Jan. 2, nearly 9,500 Mainers were enrolled, which is more than the 5,000-person requirement.
Two additional parties apparently have been attempting to gain recognition: the Forward Party and the People's Party. However, neither group submitted the form by the Jan. 2 deadline for the potential to become a qualified party, according to the release.
“This milestone validates what has been clear for a long time, which is that the No Labels message and movement resonates with people across this great state,” Justin Schair, No Labels Maine State Co-Chair, said Friday in a news release.
No Labels began as an apparent centrist organization to promote candidates with values that aligned with theirs and has been attempting to get official recognition in all 50 states, according to previous reporting from the Associated Press.
As of Friday, with the addition of Maine, No Labels is on the ballot in 13 states: Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Maine, Mississippi, Nevada, North Carolina, Oregon, South Dakota and Utah. It has apparently also filed for ballot access or are actively gathering signatures in another 14 states, though those states were not listed.
Also in the release Friday, the group said No Labels was now in a position to "offer its ballot line to a Unity presidential ticket for the 2024 election."
According to a September report by NEWS CENTER Maine, some critics argue if the party puts forward a candidate in the 2024 race, it will siphon votes away from Democrats, potentially benefiting former President Donald Trump. However, advocates dismiss those claims, stressing that the party's intention is to bridge the gap between Democrats and Republicans.
In the "about us" section of their website, No Labels cites the rise of the Tea Party around 2009 as a touchstone for the movement, which they see as a response to the aggressively partisan extremes, not a "third party."
"We must recommit to the fundamental beliefs that have historically united Americans and provided a common understanding of who we are and where we hope to go," the group describes in the "about us" section of its website.
They also cite Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, as an ally among a list of elected officials to serve in the U.S. Senate.
Collins spoke with NEWS CENTER Maine about the No Labels movement back in September. At the time, she said she was a member of No Labels.
You can watch the segment here:
"I am a member of No Labels. It helps to bring Democrats and Republicans together in both the House and Senate to work on the infrastructure bill and the Electoral Count Act, and I think that's very valuable. I have not been involved at all in the attempt to have a presidential candidate, and I'm going to leave that decision for down the line," Collins said at the time.
The organization was in hot water with the Maine secretary of state's office in the spring of last year over its tactics to gain enrollment numbers.
No Labels was issued a cease-and-desist letter in May by Bellows, who warned that petition tactics could reportedly confuse voters into enrolling in the party instead of thinking they were signing a petition, according to a news release from her office sent out May 12, 2023.
In an effort to quell the reported confusion, the secretary of state's office sent a letter dated May 11 to about 6,000 people who were listed as enrolled in the party to inform them about their enrollment status and encourage those who may not have wanted to enroll with the party to file a new voter registration card. Anyone who wished to remain enrolled was told no further action was required.
“Voters have the freedom to associate with the political party of their choice, or no party at all,” Bellows said in the release. “We were concerned after hearing reports of dozens of voters alleging they were unaware they had been enrolled in the No Labels Party and are working to ensure every voter understands their rights.”
No Labels denied any wrongdoing at the time and instead blamed confused voters for the mishap, NEWS CENTER Maine said in a report back in September.
"When you run an operation to do a petition or a voter driver, there's often some folks who just didn't fully understand it," Justin Schair, co-chair of No Labels Maine, said at the time.
Bellows said in September that she understood the goals of No Labels but that she continued to be concerned about its practices.
"My responsibility as secretary of state is to make sure that the voters have the choice that they want," Bellows said then.