The North Carolina State Senate Judiciary Committee will hear H88 on July 5 at 1 pm in room 1027 of the legislative building. H88 was introduced last year to cut the number of signatures for a new party to one-fourth of the current requirement, and to cut the number of signatures for a statewide independent to that same standard (one-half of 1% of the last vote cast). It also lowered the number of votes for a party to remain qualified to 2% of the last vote cast. Unfortunately, the bill was amended on the floor last year to gut the helpful provisions, and add filing fees to nominees of parties that nominate by convention.

Now H88 will have its first Senate hearing. Activists with North Carolina Open Elections (www.NCOpenElections.org) are organizing to have a large contingent to persuade the Senate Committee to restore the bill to its original wording. This is a very important hearing. This bill almost certainly will pass in some form. The existing law on the number of signatures for a statewide independent was declared unconstitutional in 2004, so the state needs to pass new legislation.