On January 30, a state court in North Carolina heard oral arguments in the ballot access case filed in 2005 by the Libertarian Party (the Green Party joined into this case in 2007).
The judge said there is need for a trial, to obtain more facts.
That trial will probably be in March. It is encouraging that the judge wants a trial, because it indicates he is the type of judge who will be influenced by actual evidence. Furthermore, he seemed to be leaning toward the view that there is no state interest in requiring more than 10,000 or so signatures for a new party to get on the ballot. Thanks to Sean Haugh for this report.
It is good to hear that we finally may have a judge that wants to at least lower the number of signatures for the party. I mean, almost 70,000 signatures for a new Political Party is plain wrong.
It is a shame that it has taken so long for independent candidates, and new political parties to earn a place on the ballot. Democracy does not exist if the public are not given a choice. I hope that this will change things.