The North Carolina Libertarian Party believes it finally has enough valid signatures on its petition. It has been working for over three years to meet the requirement of 69,734. It has collected approximately 102,500.

Assuming the petition is complete, this will be the largest numerical ballot access hurdle that any new or minor party has overcome since 1995, when the Reform Party and the Natural Law Party both complied with California’s requirement of 89,007 registrations.

North Carolina is a fast-growing state. The requirement, 2% of the last gubernatorial vote, shot up from 58,842 to 69,734 after the November 2004 election, because the 2004 turnout was so much better than the 2000 turnout. North Carolina elects its governors in presidential election years, when turnout is highest.

The Libertarian Party also hopes to be done with its Nebraska petition within the next 10 days.