North Carolina Senate Bill 88, a bill that was introduced last year and which initially made favorable changes, seems unlikely to pass. Last year, after it had passed the Senate, the House converted it into a bill that did more harm than good. This month, the Senate held some hearings on it, but now seems to have lost interest in moving it forward.

Eventually the North Carolina legislature will be forced to pass some bill on ballot access, since in 2004 the statewide independent procedure was declared unconstitutional. It happens that there are no statewide races in North Carolina this year, but there are plenty of them in 2008. Under the U.S. Supreme Court precedent McCarthy v Briscoe, if the legislature doesn’t fix the law, then any statewide independent candidate in 2008 who can show a modicum of support, can go to court and get put on the ballot automatically.