On August 13, the North Carolina Libertarian Party received $39,691 from the State Board of Elections. UPDATE: Democrats received $429,736; Republicans $264,951. This money is from the North Carolina state income tax forms. Those forms permit taxpayers to send a small donation to the party of their choice. This is the first time the Libertarian Party has received such funds in North Carolina since 2003, when it received $701. North Carolina law says only parties with registration of 1% should be on the tax form. However, the official who printed the tax forms late last year ignored that law, and printed the Libertarian Party on the form anyway, even though its registration was only .07%. The registration was low because all the party’s registrants had been erased in late 2005 because the party did not requalify quickly for 2006; instead it requalified in 2008 and remains qualified.
Congratulations. The amount is much much than I had expected. I suppose people were happy to donate to an alternative to the Democrats and Republicans.
There’s another interesting case in NC where a judge ruled that the public cannot be forced to pay for public campaign financing.
August 13, 2009 You can’t force people to pay for public campaign financing Greensboro News and Record.
Judge Howard Manning’s ruling in Wake County Superior Court this week upholds public financing for statewide judicial campaigns — but says, in effect, that no one can be compelled to pay for it.
http://www.news-record.com/blog/54431/entry/66988
Better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick!
—– Donald Raymond Lake
The exact figure is $39,691.50. In NC, each check-off is for 3 dollars, so I’m wondering whence the extra buck-and-a-half.
The funny thing is that I did NOT check the box on my tax return. Since the state hadn’t honored their bait-and-switch in the past, I was afraid that checking the box would send my money to the government parties.
Hmm. This does seem to be a voluntary method. Until it was killed by our governor, Minnesota had a limited reinbursement program and I think that we still have some optional public financing.
Congrats Libertarian Party of NC, that is a good sum of money to help kick start some LP campaign efforts here in NC. It’s nice when the state makes a mistake that benefits third parties instead of hurting them.
The Dems number is not a multiple of 3 either. Maybe some one mark both and they split the $3 dollars.