The Libertarian/Green Party brief in the North Carolina Supreme Court, in the ballot access case, has been filed. Here is the 36-page brief. The basic message is that North Carolina has no state interest in requiring so many signatures for a new or previously unqualified party to get on the ballot. North Carolina requires more signatures than any other state except California. The brief also attacks other characteristics of the law, such as the ban on letting voters register into unqualified parties, and the inability of a party that is not qualified statewide to get on in just part of the state.

Here is the amicus brief of nine organizations in support of the case. This brief is well worth using for activists in any state with severe ballot access laws. It explains how society is better off when minor parties and independent candidates are able to get on the ballot. It is filed by: the Southern Coalition for Social Justice; Democracy North Carolina; FairVote Action; the North Carolina League of Women Voters; Common Cause of North Carolina; North Carolinians for Free & Proper Elections; the John Locke Foundation; the North Carolina NAACP; and the North Carolina Center for Voter Education. The text is 14 pages long, but the link also includes the Motion asking the Court to let this amicus brief be filed. Thanks to Sean Haugh for these briefs.