A North Carolina Superior Court in Raleigh has scheduled a hearing in Libertarian Party of North Carolina v State Board of Elections for January 30, Wednesday, at 9 am. This case, which includes the Green Party, was filed in 2005 to challenge the ballot access laws for new and previously unqualified parties. The case number is 05-cvs-13073. It will be held in Room 10D of the Wake County Courts Building.
North Carolina requires more signatures for a new party to get on the 2008 ballot than any other state except California. It requires 69,734 signatures, more than even Texas and Oklahoma. The Libertarian Party does now have more than 90,000 signatures, and expects to qualify regardless of how the lawsuit is resolved; but the Green Party and other parties certainly won’t be on the ballot unless this case is won. The lawsuit also challenges the inability of voters to register as members of unqualified parties, an issue which was lost in federal court in North Carolina in 1994, but which has won in New York, New Jersey, Colorado, Iowa, and to a limited extent in Oklahoma.
This is not the first time that the Libertarian Party has supported ballot access reforms that would actually help other minor parties more than the Libertarian Party.
I’m glad that the Libertarian Party welcomes, rather than fears, competition.
The 90K signatures referenced in the article is a raw number. While our verification rate is pretty good, we still need 20 to 30 thousand more raw signature to make the threshold. And we’re nearly broke. And there’s that pesky law suit to pay for. When that comes due, we’re past broke.
Mr. Winger is right to say we will surely make it, but if anyone out there can chip in a few bucks, we surely need it — http://lpnc.org